Trails of the Sun: Warding Abyss
by Rankin de Merthyr
Summary: The world of Remnant is a dangerous place. Dust Infusion is a drug that could destroy a country. The Red Fang wants to enslave mankind. And the Creatures of Grimm are the monsters that go bump in the night and threaten to destroy all of life on the planet. Inspite all of this, heroes will still rise against the odds... Provided they survive Beacon first. (AU)(NEW PROLOGUE)
1. A Prologue

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT RWBY AS THOSE STRICTLY BELONG TO ROOSTER TEETH(I THINK) AND THAT THIS IS STRICTLY A FAN WORK AND I ONLY WISH I GOT PAID TO DO THIS._**

 **ADDITIONAL TAGS** (because FF's tagging system is still stuck in the dark ages.) **: ACTION, ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, ARMY BUILDING, ARRANGE MARRIAGE, BATTLE COUPLES, OVERPOWERED PROTAGONIST, TRAINING, SWORDS GUNS, RWBY MIXED WITH ORIGINAL TEAMS.**

 **SUMMARY:**

The world of Remnant is a dangerous place. It has a drug named Dust Infusion which could destroy a country, a group of radical faunuses named the Red Fang that wants to enslave mankind, and the Creatures of Grimm are the monsters that go bump in the night and threaten to destroy all of life on the planet. Inspite all of this, heroes will still rise against the odds... Provided they survive Beacon Academy first.

 **A/N:**

 **So I've decided to make a new prologue!**

 **Yeah, the story just had too many unknowns in the story and I feel like I should have been giving Ruby and Co. more spotlight despite my fic being OC centric. It took 2 months as I was kept busy with my work. I got a promotion, which meant MORE RESPONSIBILITIES T_T**

 **Also, I've been thinking up how to introduce all the AU things I've done without it looking like a HUGE info dump of changes. I found my solution in the Mass Effect x Starcraft fic "Cycles Upon Cycles" by Incredible Muffin. What Muffin did was have a short "news" at the start of each chapter, a sort of short recap of the events of the previous chapter.**

 **What I'll be doing instead is showing Flash backs! Instead of entire Arcs going for a flash back, I've decided to put most of them at the start of each chapter just give out tid bits of info. Don't worry, they'll mostly be kept to just characters** _speaking_ **to one another.**

 **So without further ado, let the story begin!**

* * *

 **Trails of the Sun**

 **A Prologue**

 **The Moment of Change in Everyone's Life**

* * *

 **\- ISLAND OF PATCH -**

* * *

Taiyang Xiao Long was a blond haired man with blue eyes. He was wearing brown cargo shorts, a brown leather vest, a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off, brown belt and black shoes. Currently, he was in his living room and sat on the couch as he flipped through the channels in his television. It's been a while since the last time he's been able to simply just sit and actually see the things in front of him. He gave passing glimpses to the shows he used to watch, making a mental note to try and watch the episodes he's missed online. Then he flicked to the sports channels, though he had no reason why. He preferred actually doing the sport instead of watching others play, and today was no different. After only a few moments, he quickly flicked to the news channels.

'Might as well update myself to what's happening to the world.' Taiyang thought as he watched, idly noting that the news anchor got prettier the last time he saw her.

The news channels talked about officially recognizing Menagerie as the fifth nation was good news. There was no mention of the world ending in the foreseeable future, that was good news too. Then there's the radical, elitist group of faunuses, that were calling themselves the Red Fang, starting to get popular among the young faunuses. That wasn't good news. No, that was not good news at all.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAADDD!"

Taiyang only had a second to look towards the living room doors before it swung open and slammed against the wall with a loud bang. A yellow blur came rushing in and, barely, just stopped right in front of him. Two small hands clasped around his legs and started tugging at it back and forth.

"It's the end of the week! Can you unlock my Aura now, can you, can you, pleaaaaasssseeee?" said the small, blonde haired intruder as she looked up at him with big, puppy-wide, purple eyes.

Taiyang smiled as he looked down towards his eldest daughter, Yang Xiao Long. She had blonde hair, even brighter than his, tied in low pig tails and was currently wearing a large orange sports shirt and brown shorts. In his opinion, she was a bright, cheerful, and an excessively energetic girl that easily gets into trouble far too easily. Oh, the headaches she causes him...

"Isn't it a little too early for us to do that? I mean, most girls wait until they're eight years old before they get their Aura unlocked." Taiyang said teasingly.

"But daaaaad! You promised!" Yang whined and shaking his leg.

"Haha, alright, alright." Taiyang chuckled. "Give me some room and we can do it right now." Yang complied, releasing his leg as he stood up. They moved to a part of the room with a bit more room and he knelt down in front of his daughter.

Aura is the ability to manifest one's soul in the physical realm. With enough willpower, a person can use their aura for a variety of things such as creating a forcefield around them for protection, enhancing their attacks for a more powerful blow, or even heal one's own wounds. It is something that all living beings can acquire; so long as they have a soul.

Releasing the soul for the first time however, is no easy thing. From birth, each soul lies dormant. Awakening it by yourself and bringing it into the physical realm requires a considerable amount of concentration and willpower. As such, what most people do nowadays is just have someone unlock their aura for them. Which is what Taiyang was doing to his daughter.

Placing his hand on Yang's head, he closed his eyes an concentrated. He summoned his Aura and poured it into his daughter, searching for her soul. He found it easily. It was a bright thing, dormant, but very bright. He poked at it, stirring it awake and guiding it out. It protested, wishing to remain asleep, but he was having none of that. His daughter wanted her Aura unlocked, and he was going to do just that.

He poured his Aura further into Yang, rousing her soul further from sleep and grabbing it's metaphysical hand before he dragged it out into the physical realm.

"Annnnnd... There!" Taiyang declared happily, just as Yang glowed in a bright yellow glow, which she missed as she still had her eyes closed. She smiled happily and opened her eyes as she felt her soul wrap around her like a warm embrace.

Taiyang smiled, and rustled his daughter's bright blonde hair affectionately. "That was a very bright glow, young lady! There's a good chance that you'll get a very powerful Semblance!"

"Really?! Do you think I could punch through walls? Or control fire? Or maybe even shoot lasers out of my eyes!" Yang said excitedly, jumping up and down.

Taiyang chuckled at the six year old. He gently grabbed her by the shoulders and settled her down. "Haha slow down, Yang. One thing at a time, you'll find out soon enough."

"Did my favorite niece get her Aura unlocked?" A new voice said from the door. The father and daughter duo turned their heads to look at Qrow Branwen.

"But uncle Qrow, I thought I was your favorite!" Protested Ruby Rose as she rode Qrow's back.

"That's because you're both my favorites!" Qrow declared, bending to let Ruby off.

Qrow had graying black, spiky hair, red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. With a red, tattered cloak, he wears a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes.

Ruby had fair skin, silver eyes and black hair that fades to dark red at the tips. Currently, she wore a red shirt and black skirt.

"Why don't you and your big sis go out the back?" Qrow said, patting Ruby on her head. "It's a beautiful day to play outside after all.

"Okay!" Ruby said, before running to Yang and taking her hand. "Come on sis!"

Yang, however, frowned. She knew a dismissal when she heard one. She hesitated to leave, as the last time she got told to do just that was when her second mother went missing. However, Ruby kept pulling on her arm and eventually gave in to her little sister.

Taiyang sighed, then he turned to Qrow and raised a brow. "What is it?"

Qrow reached for something behind him and dropped it on the coffee table infront of the couch. "Do you know what this is?" He asked quietly, but had an undertone of anger.

Taiyang looked at what Qrow placed on the coffee table. Of course he knew what it was. He had used it right after waking up.

It had the shape of a small handgun. But instead of being made of metal, it was mostly grey plastic. Instead of a barrel, there was a replaceable cannister with a medical needle at the end. It was a Dust Infuser. Created for the specific purpose of injecting Liquidised Dust into someone's blood stream.

Contrary to what was previously thought, Dust was more than just raw elemental power; Dust also corresponded to emotions. Depending on which Dust was used, it could have varying effects. Like a blue Dust made people have a clearer head. Or purple Dust used for a night of debauchery. Or yellow Dust that made one feel more joyful. Just like what he injected every morning for the past week now.

Of course, he used with the utmost care and only with the minimal dose. The side effects of misuse were... ugly, to say the least. So much so that it was highly frowned upon by all of the five cities. It was punishable enough to get you behind bars. For life.

And that was the most merciful option.

"What is wrong with you!?" Qrow yelled in anger, taking his brother-in-law's silence as confirmation. "Were you even thinking about the consequences?"

Taiyang shrugged and collapsed into the sofa. "After losing Summer... It's the only think that let's me feel anything else other than crippling despair." Taiyang closed his eyes. It was a wonder to him how his heart hasn't just stopped beating so that he could just drop dead.

The pain he felt in his heart was greater than all the injuries he ever received combined. There was his first wife, Raven. She had inexplicably vanished from the face of the planet and Taiyang had search high and low for her. But there was no trace. No trail left behind, leaving him with his one year old daughter and a broken heart.

Then, there was his second wife The bright, bubbly, and joyful woman that made him smile no matter what, and the one who always had his back... He could still picture her. 'Summer...' he thought bitterly. Even after months have passed after her death, the thought of her still hurt him. Her still, unmoving form, lying down in a casket was such a stark contrast to her normal self that it shattered his heart to pieces. More than Raven's disappearance ever did.

Qrow however, didn't care for Taiyang's inner turmoil. He walked over to him, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off his seat. "Like hell your feelings matter!" He yelled at his long time friend. He sympathizes for losing two wives, one of them was his sister after all, but in his view, Tai was playing with fire. "Dust Infusion is highly illegal! Not only is it dangerous to you but everyone around you as well!"

"I know the dangers, Qrow." Taiyang said as he pushed his hands away, and sitting back on the sofa. "I'm only taking the minimal dose. Just enough to get by."

"Bull. Shit!" Qrow kicked the sofa. It annoyed Tai, but he really needed to hit something already. He also needed a drink but he needed to be sober for this. "It's a proven fact that even the tiniest dose leaves Dust inside a person."

"What do you want me to do Qrow!?" Taiyang rose from his seat. He was getting annoyed and Qrow kicking his sofa did not help. "Drink myself to an early grave like what you're trying to do!?"

"What I want you to do is STOP." Qrow said slowly, ignoring Tai's jab at his drinking habits.

Taiyang scoffed at him and started walking towards a nearby drawer and unlocked it. Neither Yang or Ruby knew he hid a pack of cigarettes inside, and he intended for them to never find out. Just like the Dust Infuser. He lit one and took one long drag and breathed it out. Oum nicotine feels good.

"Look at you! You're a disgrace!" Qrow accused.

"Why the hell do you care!?" Taiyang whirled and pointed a finger at himself. "It's my damned life! I live the way I want!"

"Can you say that to Raven?" Qrow asked, crossing his arms. "Or what about Summer? Can you imagine what they'd say if they walk in this room right now while their daughters are outside? Or what if the girls find out their father was on the fast track to being a drug addict"

Taiyang felt like someone dumped cold water on him at the mention of his wives and daughters. He looked down to the cigarette in his hands and pictures the reaction from the women in his life.

If either of his wives saw him, they'd probably just kick his ass for being a possible bad influence to the girls.

His daughters? His two precious princesses? They'd probably look worried or, even worse, scared. Scared of what he could become... Or that he'd just be an empty shell. Aside from Qrow, he was the only one they had left. He couldn't do that to them.

Without him noticing, Qrow approached and took the cigarette and killed it.

"I'm going to need you to stop, you hear me Tai?"

He nodded dumbly. "I'll... I'll try."

Qrow sighed. "Good. Until then, I'll take the girls away-"

Taiyang gasped violently. 'T...take the girls away? Ruby, and Yang? They're all I have left... No, I won't let you take them away! No... No, no, no, nonono, NO! "NO ONE'S TAKING THEM AWAY!"

Qrow cursed as flames burst out of Tai's arms and red cracks started surrounding his eyes. Far too quickly for a normal human, Taiyang's flaming fist came straight at him. Unable to form a proper defense, he was only able to bring up his arms in front of him, just as the attack landed. It sent him flying to the opposite side of the room, slammed against the wall, before finally falling down to the floor in a heap. It felt like a small car had rammed him full speed.

Taiyang gasped. "W-what have I done!?" He looked at his arms that were burning "No! I took a yellow dose! I didn't-"

"Yellow is pretty fucking close to red, you dumbass." Qrow said with a grimaced, cradling his left arm as it took most, of the blow. He took harder blows, but he was caught off guard and it HURT. "It's pretty easy to mix in red in yellow, since there isn't a lot of people that buy liquidized red in the first place. The black market is pretty well known to cut corners after all."

"Qrow I- I..." Taiyang started, wanting to apologize but his arms were still flaming. "Take the girls." He said coming to the decision. He didn't want them to look at him like this. It was going to take days for the effects to even begin to wear off. "Qrow, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just... Lose myself like that. But please, take the girls."

"Don't have to... tell me twice." Qrow let out a humourless laugh, trying to stand at full height, though he seemed to be wincing with each step. "I'll grab them outside... and let them grab their things."

Taiyang watches Qrow leave the room and looks back to his arms. Fire was no longer present, but it was black and small embers fluttered in and out. He looked to a mirror and the red cracks around his eyes accused him with unmistakable proof of someone addicted to Dust Infusion.

How could he have been so stupid? He walked back to his coffee table and reached down to his Dust Infuser. He hesitated only for a moment.

Then he crushed it with his own hands.

He needs to be a better father after this.

 **"TAI!** " Qrow yelled from outside the house. The panic in his voice made Taiyang's heart leap at his throat. Not a moment later Qrow entered, still clutching his injured arm, and panic written all over his face. "The girls are gone! I think they went into the forest!"

Taiyang cursed. He REALLY needs to start acting like a father.

* * *

 **\- THE CITY OF MENAGERIE -**

* * *

Ghira Belladonna was a large, muscular, cat faunus with black hair and golden yellow eyes. He used to keep an unkempt beard as, in his opinion, made him look quite manly and rugged. However, due to his occupation, had to keep it well maintained and trimmed. He wore a black and white formal robe with black markings, black pants, a pair of lion head vambraces, and a white sash around his waist.

Currently, he was fighting an enemy no mortal in any plane of existence ever wanted to fight, unless they were mad or have gone insane.

His foe was white as snow, as numerous and countless as the stars, was as tall as a mountain, and had black markings written all over it's body.

It's name was...

Paperwork.

Ghira leaned back on his office chair and released a tired sigh. After working for eight hours straight, he had finally finished the mountain stack of paperwork in front of him. And yet... there were mountains more behind him!

He groaned. He didn't always work in a desk job. In fact, he used to live in a small faunus community in Mistral. Well, community was the polite word. Slums was the accurate description. He, along with the other faunuses, had to worked various menial, underpaid, and late-shift work. His dear wife got lucky and worked as a cook in a small restaurant and they were able to just make ends meet.

But when Menagerie opened it's doors three years ago, inviting any and all faunus, the Belladonna family didn't pounce on the chance. Living in the slums of Mistral was indeed difficult. But the Belladonna's had friends and they wouldn't abandon them at the drop of a hat.

So they stayed in Mistral and decided to get everyone to leave together. After two years of long, hard work, one entire section of Mistral's slums found itself vacant as everyone had packed their bags for their new home.

Of course, someone in Menagerie heard of what the Belladonna's did, and promptly offered Ghira a job.

He was now working as the council representative for one of the seven great clans that made up Menagerie, clan Pathkeeper. They were his family's sponsor clan and we're the first to welcome him and their community to Menagerie and took them under their wing.

His primary work was supposed to be working with the six other councilors and vote on which ideas, plans, design, or decision would best improve Menagerie.

Instead, the time spent by all the councilor was used mostly on dealing with the vast amount of paperwork thrown their way. They barely had the time to schedule council meetings to decide and go forward the damn things!

Ghira thought of creating a new department for all the councilors and have them filter the paperwork. But then that meant he had to draft up a proposal for it, which meant, more paperwork!

He let out a groan again. 'Maybe I should just bring it up as an informal proposal...' Ghira thought as he massaged his temples. 'I'm sure the others would pounce on the idea and it'd probably get passed like a cheetah.'

"I hope you're not thinking of quitting on me Ghira."

Ghira whirled his head up and saw a man in his mid-forties with long, and regal brown hair like a mane and lion's ears. He was leaning against the door frame to his office and wore white, black, and gold robes under a sleeveless vest, reminisce to they style of ancient Daimyo Shoguns. He was none other than, Vennrak Hiyamovi, clan chief of the Pathkeeper.

"Chief Vennrak!" Ghira bellowed and stood up to try and salute. He brushed against the stacks of paper behind him and almost caused an avalanche right on top of him. Luckily, he was able to stop it just in time by holding it back.

"Whoa, easy there." Vennrak chuckled and entered the room. "It's just me here, Ghira. There is no need to be so formal."

"Even if you say that, it's hard for me to be at ease with my history." Ghira said as he stepped away from the paperwork after making sure it wouldn't fall. "I've only been in Menagerie for a whole year while I've lived my whole life in Mistral. I was a simple faunus there after all."

"Bah! Screw Mistral." Vennrak scoffed. "They are a nation where the rich just get richer and the poor are forced to go further down the path of darkness."

"Indeed." Ghira nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. Then he gave his clan chief a grin. "Never said it was a good life. Just that I was a simple man that knew who to ass kiss to keep my family out of trouble."

Vennrak laugh. "Hahaha! And that's precisely one of the reasons why I made you the council representative of our clan! Your ability to appeal for everyones benefit is just what Menagerie needs as a whole, Councilman Belladonna."

Ghira groaned at being reminded of his position. At best, what you could call managing experience was him getting everyone he knew to leave their dump of a home and make a new one.

And here he was now, being a part of a council for the prosperity and security of the first new city in decades.

"Have you come here to ask me of something chief? Or have you come here just to torment me?" Ghira asked miserably.

"Mostly the latter actually." Vennrak said which made Ghira throw a dry glare at the man. "Oh, and of course, I escorted two lovely ladies who wanted to meet you."

The remark made Ghira raise a brow, wondering what his chief was getting at.

"Daddy!" Came the call from a voice that Ghira smile. That owner of that voice alone was half the world to him. The other half being his wife.

Vennrak then stepped to the side and two black haired females entered the room and approached them. Both of them were cat faunus with ears on top of their heads and tails swaying behind them. They wore black-on-white and white-on-black Mistral-styled robes respectively. Something reminisce of their time in the Eastern nation. Albeit, a lot more regal than the garbs they used to wear.

The younger of the two held a tote bag with both of her hands while a book was tucked between one arm and her side. "We brought you some snacks." She said as she raised the bag with both of her arms.

Ghira chuckled and knelt down to his daughter. "Thank you, kitten." He said as he took the bag and gave her a one armed hug. He then turned to his wife and gave her chaste kiss on the lips. "What are you two doing here, Kali?"

"Well, I needed to get some groceries for dinner tonight and Blake wanted to come with." Kali Belladonna said as she patted her daughters hair. "So I thought why not come here, pick you up, and just have dinner out."

Ghira raised a brow. "Was that before, or after you escaped from your guards?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kali said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Oh really? Then why aren't Ferren and his subordinates guarding by the door when their specific job is to be your bodyguards?" Ghira asked with a smirk. Kali was a simple and kind woman, having no desire for an overly opulent life. She liked working with her own two hands, and was the reason why no one was left behind in Mistral. As such, thanks to his new station in life, she had faunuses wanting to do everything for her. She had put her foot down when she couldn't cook for herself and her family and told them to take a hike. She couldn't get rid of the guards, though not for the lack of trying.

"Hahahahaha!" Vennrak let out a booming laugh. "You're husband knows you too well, Kali!"

Kali threw a glare at the two. It would have been threatening if she wasn't pouting at the same time. "Oh, fine. Blake and I first went to the grocery store as I was still thinking of cooking dinner. Of course, Ferren and the others insisted that they 'keep us protected' and came with us. But then the staff announced an impromptu sale and we decided to lose the guards in the crowd. Then we made our way here, but bumped into chief Vennrak here who volunteered to escort us. There, happy?" She said, hands on her hip.

Ghira smiled, but all the same shook his head at his wife's actions. "I can understand why you don't want them following you Kali." He said just as his voice turned serious. "But you shouldn't act so reckless these days. Especially when the Red Fang are gaining more and more momentum."

The Red Fang. Just the thought of them brought a sour taste in Ghali's mouth. In Vennrak's opinion, they were nothing more than a bunch of idiotic teenagers with too much free time on their hands. In Ghali's however, they were a growing threat. A group of radicalized youths who fully believe that it was high time for faunuses to take up their position as the true master race. It was a detestable ideology. One that had Ghali and his family end up with the shorter end of the stick. To be sure, he resented the humans that classified him as an animal or as second class citizen. However, he had better things to do than go looking for revenge. Things like making sure the city he now lives in actually survives for example.

"And because our clan is the leading advocate for human and faunus equity," Khali said, unaware of her husband inner mussings. "we're the most likely target for harassment." She then sighed and crossed her arms again. "I know, I know. But even before the whole juvenile Red Fang debacle, the three of us barely had any time to go out and act as a family. Thanks to a certain someone pushing responsibility on you." She threw a glare at the clan chief. It looked really threatening this time.

Vennrak raised his hands up, palms toward Kali in a gesture of surrender. "In my defense, clan Pathkeeper, the whole of Menagerie even, would fall apart without your husband."

"And because it's for the greater good you decided to keep my husband working to the point he mostly sleeps when he gets home!?" Kali yelled, indignant.

"Dear, calm down." Ghali said, taking his wife's arm less she attacks the clan chief. "That's my employer. You know, the one that pays my wages so we can send Blake to the best combat school and buy her an entire library?"

Blake's eyes widened. She looked up at her mother at that, pleading for her to not harm her father's boss. Her hunger for books was almost legendary. With Ghali's income as a councilman, he had more than enough money to commission a private library in their penthouse suite(something Vennrak pushed on them despite Kali's protest), and Blake had finished about half the books already.

"Fine... Now can we just go ahead and have dinner now?" Kali said and released her anger with a sigh. Then she spotted the mountain of paperwork behind her husband, which just made her anger flare right back. "Unless of course someone is going to hold you back, which will make nothing hold ME back."

Vennrak shook his head at Kali's glare. "Nope! Certainly not from me! Ghali, you're done for the day."

Ghali nodded, thankful that he actually gets to leave on time after months of overtime. "I finished my quota for today anyway." Then he turned to his family. "So. How does sushi sound?"

"Sounds good to me." Kali said, then she turned to her daughter who was nodding voraciously. A slight drool was leaking out the corner of her mouth which Kali wiped away. "I think we're good on sushi."

Ghali nodded and took Blake's hand while Kali took her other hand. He then turned to Vennrak. "What about you chief? Care to join us?"

"Well-"

Before he could respond however, rushing footsteps could be heard echoing outside the office. A second later, a Menagerie soldier rushed into the room and gave a salute. "Councilor Belladonna!" The soldier shouted. Ghali took one look at the soldier's uniform and recognized him as one of clan Seeker's message runners. Whatever had the soldier so flustered, he knew it was important. "There's been a situation."

Ghali sighed and let go of Blake's hand. "Alright soldier, what-"

"No."

Ghali stopped mid sentence as he was interrupted Vennrak with an authoritative command. He turned to him. "Chief?" He asked, but Vennrak just waved him away.

"Ghali, go enjoy your night with your family. Whatever it is, I'll deal with it and you can take over in the morning."

Ghali smiled at this. Then he cupped his fist with his other hand and bowed, giving the lion faunus a formal Menagerie bow. "Councilor Belladonna thanks his clan chief Vennrak." He told him. Then he turned to look at his family, who gave him a smile as he resumed his position besides Blake.

* * *

Vennrak smiled as he watched his friend and his family exit the room. Ghali was one of the most hardworking faunus he knew and he deserved a break instead of getting tangled up in whatever new problem arose. 'Speaking of which...' he thought and turned to the soldier. "What is it that you have to report, soldier?"

"Sir!" The soldier saluted Pathfinder's chief. "Our sources have confirmed that, over a week ago, the Red Fang have deployed their first unit with an unknown mission!"

"Where?" Vennrak asked with a glare, almost dreading the answer.

"Atlas."

Vennrak groaned. It was official. Contrary to what he thought as nothing more than rebellious teens going through a phase, the Red Fang are now an international movement. He just hoped that whatever trouble they were hoping to cause wouldn't endanger any lives.

* * *

 **\- SCHNEE MANOR -**

* * *

Raizar Schnee knocked on a light blue colored door. "Weiss dear, it's time for us to go." She called to her youngest daughter inside.

"Just a minute mama." Came the muffled reply from inside.

Smiling to herself, Raizar opened the door and peeked inside her youngest daughter's room. It was a large white and blue room, fit for a princess, with a queen sized poster bed, hundreds of stuff toys and plushies, and most importantly of all a dresser and mirror set where the owner of the room was currently sitting. "Having a hard time tying your hair?" Raizar half-asked, half-noted. Weiss was currently trying to tie her hair into a high ponytail, but her snow-white hair was stuck in a tangled mess with her brush. The Schnee Matriarch entered the room and headed for her daughter.

"Fufufu, here, let me." She said as she started untangling the brush and smoothing out her daughter's hair with expert hands. "You should be more gentle with your hair, trying rush it will only result in fighting with yourself. Now, what did you want to tie it with?"

Weiss then picked up a tiara-like hair clip from the table and handed it to her mother. It was a simple thing made of thin silver metal. It had several points going around in a semi circle with half the spikes ending with a small gem encrusted in a circle.

"Ara ara, you sure love this one, don't you? You've been wearing it for a week straight." The Schnee Matriarch noted.

"Yes!" Weiss answered happily. "It's my favorite because you gave it to me!"

Raizar smiled, her heart filled with joy as she finished tying her daughter's hair and fastening the tiara-clip making her look like a princess. Aside from her accessory, Weiss was also wearing a white-blue dress with a red interior as well as small jacket to help fight off the cold, though there was no real need as the Schnee Manor was well insulated.

"Alright, it's done. Now, come along sweetie." The Matriarch said as she took her daughter's hand in her own and made their way to get out of the room. They exited into the white and blue hallways of the Schnee Manor.

The hallway itself was long and, surprisingly, sparsely decorated. However, what the halls lacked in quantity, they made up with blue silk rugs, famous paintings and tapestries, and marble floors, walls, and ceiling. The windows were on one side of the hallways, which let in the light of the sun.

Raizar looked out through the windows and saw, all things considered, a beautiful day for the "City of Eternal Winter". The clouds were parted, revealing the azure sky and golden sun, as they gave a much needed warmth to the snow heaped landscape. She then caught a glimpse of her reflection as she passed by the windows.

The Schnee Matriarch was wearing a bluish-purple dress that had puffy shoulder and long sleeves, a white ribbon tied at her back and looping around her waist, and a pair of high heeled winter boots for her feet. She wasn't a vain woman, but she could easily call herself a beautiful woman with her elf-like features(including the pointed ears) and silver hair that reach down to her hips. She wore no jewelry, except for the simple, yet elegant Wedding Band on her ring finger.

They were on their way to their Conservatory and the reason why they were wearing dresses despite their destination was within their own home, was because whenever people came to visit the Schnee Manor, they were also dressed in their best. The Schnee's, being the host, couldn't show they were being impolite or treating their guest lightly.

On a side note, the Schnee's had more formal dresses, which they reserved only special occasions.

\- RING - RING - RING -

Raizar blinked at hearing the ringing. Still walking, she let go of Weiss's hand, reached for her purse and took out her Scroll. Not bothering to look at the caller ID, she answered the call. "Good Morning. Raizar Schnee speaking."

"Good morning, Lady Raizar."

"Ah, Haley." Raizar said, recognizing the caller as Jacques' secretary. "Is something the matter?"

"No ma'am. Rather... Lord Jacques is..."

"I see." Raizar said with a smile but the steel in her voice was palpable. There were only two reasons for why Haley would ever call Raizar. The first was when there was an emergency and Jacques got into an accident. The second was... "And what, pray tell, sort of trouble is my husband getting himself into now?"

"He's in a meeting with the board. He's decided to cut some corners on the mining equipment and is planning to push the faunus miners to use their Limit-Break and work them far harder than their human counterparts. For the same pay." Came the secretary's reply.

"I see..." Raizar said. "I'll handle it, Haley."

* * *

"I see... I'll handle it Haley." Came the reply from Haley's scroll before the call was disconnected. She put her Scroll away and turned back to watching Jacques Schnee's back. He was making a visual presentation about his future corporate policies in front of the board of directors. Though they were called the board of directors, they only owned about 30% of the company. The rest of it was still under the Schnee name. Still, that didn't mean the Schnee's could do whatever they want with the company without proper procedure or council, thus, the board of directors.

Jacques was looking to gain a bigger capital and was hoping to use it as further funding into Dust research. He fully believed that there was more to Dust than just an energy source and a very, very, unhealthy drug. Unfortunately, his new policies included endangering his workers and Raizar Schnee was not going to have any of it.

"As you can see here, if we distribute the labor to-"

\- RING - RING - RING -

Jacques was interrupted by the loud ringing of his Scroll, which gave him pause. He was sure he had put the thing in silent mode before entering the meeting, but it was now ringing in the emergency tone Raizar had _convinced_ him to **ALWAYS** pick up. Meanwhile, the board of directors could only raise their brows. They recognize that ringtone...

"Excuse me for a moment." Jacques said, before he fished out his Scroll and answered it. "Yes dear? Is something... Yes, actually. How did... Yes dear?"

The board of directors exchanged knowing glances, and continued to watch Jacques in an amused fashion. This was not the first time he got a phone call from his wife in the middle of the meeting.

"Ah alright, I'm... No dear. No. I'm... But, dear... Yes. Yes, but Raizar... No. I... I got it dear. Yes, I love you too... Send Weiss my love as well. Goodbye."

"Dog house treatment, Jack?" Snickered one of the board, before it started spreading down the table. It didn't matter if Jacques was one of the richest man in all of Remnant and had the resources to make a small country. It was damn entertaining to see another man get in trouble with his wife.

"Maybe you'll be sleeping in one of your guest rooms tonight." Chuckled another, before the other members started laughing openly too.

Jacques glared at the laughing board members. Then he whirled around to look at his secretary. "I don't pay you to tell my wife what happens in my business!" He told her angrily.

"Actually sir, you don't pay me at all." Haley said matter of factly. "It's Lady Schnee that signs my cheque."

"Jack, forget any black king! You're own queen has you in checkmate!" One of the board members said.

"Hey, hey Jack!" One of the board members waved his hand to get Jacques', and coincidentally everyone else's, attention. His hand then made a fist, metaphorically holding something in the air, before swinging his arm in a whipping motion. "Wha-ksssh!"

Everyone in the room roared in laughter.

Except Jacques. He just groaned. He loves his wife, he truly does, but sometimes she drives him up the wall.

* * *

Raizar disconnects her call and sighs. She loves her husband, she truly does, but his controlling nature gets him into far too much trouble. Nevertheless, she turned to look at her daughter and have her a full smile. "Papa sends his love too."

At this, Weiss beamed. Her father was a busy man and she simply felt happy she even got a reply for sending her feelings to him.

The pair of them again held hands and continued walking. They passed through the hallways, went down to the first floor, and exited through the back.

With each step she took, Raizar was getting less and less upset about her husband's actions and was instead getting more and more excited as they got closer to the Conservatory.

The Conservatory was built a long time ago by one of Weiss's predecessor(as Raizar was the one to marry into the family). The central, cylindrical structure was three stories tall, with it glass and iron ceiling curved inwards and upwards, before rising vertically again and ending with a dome ceiling. Two wings were attached to it's side and stretched outwards from the center with the same curvilinear ceiling, before ending in a half circle.

The two Schnee's entered the building and immediately felt the warm climate used to keep the plants alive. As they continued walking, they passed by a bevy of plant, shrub, and tree in every color from the spring temperament. Finally, they made it to Raizar's favorite spot, the center of the Conservatory where a Snowblossom tree was grown. Under said tree was a set of tables and chairs used specifically to have tea as they soak in the sun.

And occupying one the chairs was a ashen-black haired woman with bright amber eyes. She was wearing a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees. She spots the pair of Schnee's, smiles, and gives a small wave.

"Cinder Fall!" Raizar called happily. She released her daughter's hand and went into a light jog as all her pent up excitement was released. The now named Cinder saw this and stood up to greet her long time friend.

As the Schnee Matriarch neared, she wrapped her arms around the black-haired woman and immediately felt the hug returned. "Oh, it's been so long! You've managed to still look so young. Really though, you should drop by more often! How are you?"

Cinder chuckled. "Slow down, Rai." She said as both of them released their embrace. "To answer your question, I'm doing fine. And yourself?"

"I'm doing quite well actually. Oh, but I've been dying for you to meet my youngest daughter. Weiss dear!" Raizar called as she turned to look behind her where Weiss was just now catching up to them.

However, instead of the happy child that beamed when her father sent her his love, and the one that had a favorite hair clip because it's what her mother gave her, Weiss was now prim and proper princess. Back straight, eyes forward, and steps confident. The very picture of confident aristocracy without the arrogance. It was a fine line to tread, and Raizar was proud Weiss could pull it off easily.

Weiss then picked up her skirt and gave her a well practiced curtsy. "Good morning, Lady Fall. My name is Weiss Schnee, second heir to the Schnee family. It's very nice to meet you."

Cinder raised a brow and directed it at Raizar, who in turn, was giving her a look of anticipation. She was proud at her daughter perfecting the art of introducing herself in such a manner, and was expecting her to play along.

back to Weiss, she gave her own curtsy in response. "Good morning to you too, Lady Schnee. I'm afraid I myself am no Lady though, as I have no title." The statement caused Raizar to scoff for her friend, but Cinder ignored her and continued. "But please, just call me aunt Cinder."

"Okay! Please call me Weiss, aunt Cinder!" Weiss said happily and dropping all pretense of formality as introductions were over and was given permission to be more familiar with her aunt Cinder.

"Good job sweetie." Raizar said. "But don't listen to your aunt Cindy about not having a title. She actually has one but just keeps denying it."

"Really?" Weiss asked.

"Rai, she doesn't need to know." Cinder said in a warning tone.

"Oh, hush! You shouldn't be embarrassed at getting called a Heroine." Raizar said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Really?! You're a real Heroine, aunt Cinder?" Weiss asked excitedly.

Cinder could respond with a sigh. "Yes, dear. People actually call me a Heroine, though I don't really like telling people that."

"Why not?" The little heiress asked, tilting her head.

"I... Don't like the attention." Cinder said and looked away.

"Oh, there's no need to be shy Cindy!" Raizar teased.

Cinder just rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Anyway, I hate to be rude Rai, but could I get some tea? I'm rather thirsty."

"Oh. Actually, Walter should be arriving just about..." Raizar wondered and looked at her wrist watch. "... now." She said and turned to look at the door. Just as it opened and one of her butler's walked in, pushing a tea cart with one hand, and bird cage in the other.

Inside the cage was a large, Snow Phoenix. A rare bird of prey native to the lands of Atlas, which Weiss took an instant liking to when she first saw it. It was tamed and given to the Schnee family as a gift by another aristocratic family. It's feathers dominantly white and ended in a sky blue hue. It's bright, yellow eyes spoke of intelligence and held itself regally like a proud king.

"Nix!" Weiss called happily as the butler approached.

Walter extended the tripod under the birdcage and opened it, releasing the avian king within.

Nix chirped happily and flew out the cage. It circled Weiss, while the little heiress was laughed happily. She then extended out her arm and let Nix take perch on her limb.

"Can I play with Nix, mama?" Weiss asked, turning to Raizar while she kept petting Nix.

Raizar nodded her permission. "Just be careful dear. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay! Come on, Nix!" Weiss said, as Snow Phoenix took flight with the heiress chasing behind it.

By the time Weiss was out of sight, the butler had finished preparing the table with a set of tea and a stack of snacks Cinder and Raizar could munch on. Raizar thanked Walter and the two friends took their seats and resumed to chat with one another.

"So are you really shy about being a Heroine, Cindy?" Raizar asked, while she took a bite out of a cookie.

"No." Cinder shook her head, taking a sip out of her tea. "Actually... I like the attention. I like it alot."

Raizar raised a brow. "I sense a 'but' coming..."

Cinder nodded. "But I like it too much. It was actually during the Mountain Glenn incident. All those cameras pointing at me while the crowd cheered my name." Cinder closed her eyes and recalled the memory. She wanted to convey what she felt to her friend that day. "It was... Orgasmic."

Raizar actually choked on the cookie she was trying to swallow, caught completely off guard by the statement. Cinder just watched in amusement while Raizar was giving unladylike coughing. The Schnee Matriarch quickly drank her tea to swallow the offending cookie lodged in her throat. She then gave Cinder a look that said "You can't be serious."

"Oh it's true. Privately, I checked and confirmed I got a little wet that time." Cinder said with all seriousness. "It's actually kind of scary. Knowing that little bit of myself revealed I'm either a huge pervert or really just enjoy the attention." She shrugged. "Oum, it could even be something else and I really don't want to find out."

"So that's why you avoid the press like the plague. But then..." Raizar remarked, then recalled seeing Cinder's name on the front page of every news feed just recently. "Didn't you officially pass the Huntress exam not long ago? Won't being a Huntress give you even more exposure to the public?"

Cinder shook her head. "I don't plan to go out on big missions actually. I actually just took the exam and got the rank it to fill a requirement for the actual job I'll be taking."

"Oh? What job requires you to be an official ranked Huntress to get accepted?"

"A teaching job in Beacon."

"Really!? That's great!" Raizar said happily. "So you finally decided to stop roaming around the world and chose to settle down! Phew! Thank goodness! You know, I've actually been a little worried about you since you're approaching your mid-twenties!"

"Hey, mid-twenties is still young! You just married early! You were fifteen for crying out loud!"

"Well that's because I met my one true love early on." Raizar said, then immediately regretted it as a rueful look crossed her best friend's face. "Oh, Oum... You're not over Artem are you?"

Cinder just gave her a nonchalant shrug.

"Cindy. It's been five years. Surely it's time you moved on? He surely did." Raizar scoffed.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Cinder shrugged. "All I know my situation isn't his fault. He only regained his memories after *that woman* got pregnant."

"I still say he's a right bastard. He could have left her and just been with you." Raizar said, crossing her arms and glaring, hopefully, at the direction of Artem Solis.

Cinder shook her head. "He wouldn't leave the kids. Not even for me. Artem always wondered what happened to his parents while he grew up in the orphanage. He'd hate to do that to his kids."

Raizar rolled her eyes and scoffed again. "I can't believe you're actually defending him. You and Jacques both are insane."

Cinder raised a brow at this. "Why? What did your Jacky do now?"

"... Heengagrfweisswithdante." Raizar said in a huff.

Cinder blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"I said he engaged Weiss with Dante! Artem's son!" Raizar threw her arms up in frustration. "Can you believe him? Engaging my little dove to a spawn of Artem and *that woman*!?" She said, anger clear in her voice.

"Mmmm... I'm all for getting angry at Jacques, but you should just be sure that your anger isn't directed at an innocent child."

"You can't actually mean you like the idea of that child getting my Weiss!?" Raizar nearly shrieked.

"Can't say. I've never seen Artem's kids." Cinder shrugged. "I just don't want our troubles plaguing their generation." She paused, pouring herself a new cup of tea and gave a sip. "I mean, sure I hate Dante's mother, but not like he had a choice in that matter. Besides, for all we know he could make Weiss happy."

At that, Raizar sighed. "True... You have a point. It would be unfair of me to be prejudiced against the child for simply having *her* as the mother... When did you get so wise?" The Schnee Matriarch asked.

"I've always been wise. People just tend to not listen to me." Cinder said with a smirk. "Besides, I have to practice since I'm going to be teaching a bunch of pubescent fighters soon.

"But enough about me. How's life been treating you Rai?" Cinder asked.

Immediately, Raizar beamed. Not that she was vain, but there was a multitude of things she's been wanting to her best friend since the last time they met. However, one topic leapt to the forefront of her mind. "I'm pregnant!" She declared

"Really?" Cinder asked. The Schnee Matriarch gave her a nod and she returned her a full, happy smile. "That's fantastic! Does Jacques know? How long are you in?"

"I'm a little over a month actually. And no. Jacques doesn't know yet as I found out just a few days ago and I wanted to tell you first. I'm telling him tonight though."

"Oh Rai that's great news! What do you think it'll be?"

"A boy." Raizar said with full confidence. "I can feel it in my bones. And he's going to be handsome little devil." She giggled.

* * *

The two friends continued to talk and time passed by quickly. Weiss came by with Nix every now and then, taking a cup of tea, nibbling on the snacks, and feeding Nix some crackers before they again ran around the Conservatory. Soon enough, it was time for Cinder to leave. Raizar called up one of her servants to guide her friend where a car and driver would send her back to her hotel. Cinder thanked her friend and bid her farewell. She was then escorted by one of the servants to the car which she immediately entered.

It was only a few minutes. Cinder was only the road and a few minutes away from the Schnee Manor when everything changed.

 **\- BOOOOOOOOOM! -**

Cinder gasped and immediately turned to look behind inside the car. He blood ran cold as she saw a billowing cloud of black smoke was rising from the Manor grounds.

She whirled her head to her driver. "TURN THIS THING AROUND, NOW!" She yelled.

"B-But ma'am, we're on the freeway..."

"I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE MISTRESS IS IN DANGER! TURN THIS THING AROUND OR I'LL DO IT MYSELF!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" The driver stuttered. Their car then immediately whirled around, facing the incoming traffic, and immediately sped their way back to the Manor. They manuevered their way around. Heedless to the other cars as they dodged around and just nearly missing honking vehicles and very angry drivers.

However Cinder paid them no mind. Her only thoughts were of her best friend and her daughter. She turned to her driver and told him, **"FLOOR IT!"**

* * *

The Schnee family gate guard could only gawk at the sight of the rising cloud that was the aftermath of an explosion. In the distance, he could hear gun shots going off. He wanted to grab his two way radio and ask what the hell was going on, but all he could hear was incoherent yelling. He turned to his partner and was about to ask what he thinks they should do. But then he heard a car honking madly. He turned to look at the road to see said car coming at them at high speed. And whoever was driving behind the wheel, was honking like a mad man.

A second later, he recognized it as one of their own vehicles and, hesitating only for a moment, moved in to action.

"Pete! Open the gates!" He yelled to his partner, before running inside the guard house where the controls for his side of the manor doors were located.

"But we don't know who that is!" Came the reply of Pete.

"Doesn't matter! It's one of our cars! Maybe they can help in whatever the hell is going on inside!" The guard replied and it wasn't a moment too soon, as a second later, just as the mechanical doors opened just enough, the car blitz through and headed for the main entrance.

* * *

Cinder burst through the main doors of the manor and instantly saw a scene of pandemonium with servants running around like headless chickens and one lone guard screaming at his two way radio. Next to the guard was the butler Cinder recognized as Walter, the one that brought her and Raizar tea awhile ago. She didn't hesitate and quickly marched towards them. **"YOU TWO!"** She yelled to get their attention.

"Lady Fall!" Walter yelled happily. "Oh thank Oum you returned! As I'm sure you've noticed, the Schnee Manor is under attack."

Cinder grunted, acknowledging Walter. Then she turned to face the Schnee guard. He was wearing a black kevlar vest over a snow-camouflage army uniform, with black combat boots and gloves. He had a pistol holstered as his side arm and a small SMG was slung over his shoulder. His hair cut short and was mostly hid under a black beret. "Ma'am! Jenkins Snowguard. Head of security. It's an honor to meet you Lady Fall." He introduced himself to Cinder with a crisp salute.

Cinder nodded to the captain. "Alright, now someone tell me what the hell is going on and where the hell is Raizar and Weiss." Cinder practically ordered the men and crossed her arms.

"My men are reporting that all the attackers as faunuses. They're all wearing uniforms and wielding assault rifles that are keeping my men pinned down." Snowguard reported.

 **\- BOOOOM! -**

A second explosion sounded. At that, Walter paled. "C-Could they be a Menagerie army?"

"No." The guard answered his butler counterpart. "They don't bare any crest of Menagerie OR any of the seven great clans. What they have as an emblem is a beast head with it's mouth wide open."

Cinder was surprised that the guard captain knew Menagerie personnel so well, considering Menagerie was a country no older than two decades, but she filled that questioning for later as time was of the essence. "I don't care who the hell they are. So long as they're between me and Raizar and Weiss, they're as good as dead. Now where the hell are they?!"

"Still at the Conservatory lady Fall." Snowguard answered.

"And why, pray tell, are they still there!?" Cinder shouted. "Why haven't you evacuated the moment the damn explosion happened?!"

"We-we can't ma'am. That's the one place where the attackers have formed a fortified perimeter and my men can't break through. Aside from me and a few other guards who carry submachine guns, everyone else just carries a handgun. Against faunus with assault rifles, we're just out matched. My men are just meant to be bodyguards. Not a private army." Snowguard said.

"You mean to tell me that the richest Dust conglomerate doesn't arm his own guards with heavy equipment!?" Cinder asked in disbelief.

"Lord Jacques does, actually." Snowguard nodded. "But we keep them in the armory, which is one of the first place the attackers hit and have made a stand against my men."

Cinder groaned and massaged her temple. Whoever attacked the Schnee's, they came prepared. But now that she had a rough understanding of the situation, it was time for her to take charge. "Alright, I'm taking command. Ignore the armory. That's just a distraction. Gather what men you can and form up behind me. I'll lead the charge with my Aura." Cinder told the guard as he nodded and started giving commands on his radio. Cinder then turned to the butler. "Walter, I need you to organize the evacuation of noncombatants. Get everyone out of the way instead of running around like this." She waved her arm behind her, gesturing to the panicking servants all around them. "And make sure to make some calls. Police, S.W.A.T., the army, the navy, I don't care. Get them here and get them fast, understood?"

"Y-yes ma'am." Walter nodded, before turning away and calling for all the servants around the room to calm down.

"Snowguard." Cinder called before she started walking towards the Conservatory. The guard captain immediately ran up to her side and waited for her orders. "Tell your men to meet us up on the way and try to keep up. We're saving my best friend and her daughter."

"Yes, Lady Fall!" Snowguard shouted, just as Cinder broke off into a sprint. He didn't hesitate and started running after her while he yelled at his men to meet up with them with all haste.

* * *

 **\- BOOOOOOOOOM! -**

"Go, go, go!" The vanguard of the Red Fang unit shouted over the sound an alarm. He waved his team to run through the Schnee Manor walls so they could begin their operation.

"Contact!" One of faunuses snarled, just before the sound of assault rifles roared in the air, and soon accompanied by the dying screams of humans.

Their leader strode through the walls and scoured the snow covered courtyard. Three bodies dyed the snow blood red while the nearest windows to the Manor were already shattered. Inside the windows, he could see blood splattered the wall and he took one sniff of the air and confirmed it came from more than one human scent.

'Good. That's a few less humans in Remnant!' The leader thought with a beastly smirk. He was a wolf faunus with yellow hair. He, and all of his men, were wearing snow camouflage uniforms and black kevlar robe-vest with red linings. They didn't wear any helmets as it often got in the way of their ears and impaired their hearing. Instead, they have black mask that resemble each of their base animal.

And then the leader started barking out orders.

"Foxes, get to the armory! Use whatever you can and hold it down!

"Bear, Bull, and Rhino! Form a perimeter around the Conservatory! No one gets in or out!

"Hounds with me! Do NOT kill our targets!"

" " " YES, ALPHA! " " " The pack of Red Fang answered in chorus. Their task was simple. Come in, blow the wall, get the Schnees, get out. Kill everyone that got in the way. It was made even easier to them, since faunuses could pick up their scent behind the wall. Of course, having spotters identify their targets from a mile away helped too.

There was twenty of them, four in each team, as they all dispersed to each of their objectives. It didn't take long for each team to encounter even more humans. They screamed in fear and started begging for their lives once they saw them carrying modern assault rifles. Some even had pistols out and fought back.

However, all the faunuses just gave a malicious smile. Whether they were screaming, begging, or even aiming their pathetic handguns, it didn't matter. The Red Fang squeezed the trigger, filling the air with roar of their weapons and the dying screams of men and women.

They were humans. Just them breathing the same air was a form of them getting in the way.

The Hounds crossed the manor grounds and soon found the glass Conservatory where they could smell the two Schnee's. Predictably, the metal shutters were closed, and the glass doors were reinforced by metal gates, turning the whole Conservatory in lock down which should have protected whatever or whoever is inside until the authorities arrived. Should have.

"Plant the bomb." The Alpha said quietly. One of his men nodded and approached the door. He then knelt down and opened the duffle bag he was carrying and got to work.

 _"Weiss listen to me. Go and find some place to hide. And no matter what you hear, you mustn't come out."_ A woman said, which the faunuses assumed was the Schnee Matriarch. A normal human would likely not have heard it, but they were faunus. They were just that much better.

 _"But-but, mama-"_ a younger voice said on the cusp of crying.

 _"No! You must go quickly! Until someone you know comes to pick up, you need be silent. Do you understand?"_

 _"Ye-yes..."_

 _"Good. Now, go... I love you..."_

 _"I love you too..."_ The younger voice said, before a set of footsteps ran away.

"It's done, alpha!" The faunus that planted the bomb said, just as the two Schnee's finished their conversation.

"Do it." The Alpha said tersely.

 **\- BOOOOM! -**

The glass doors exploded, taking with it the reinforce metal gate. As soon as the explosion was done, the Hounds walked into the Conservatory, eyes searching for their pray. They didn't have to try hard.

There, standing under a tree with white leaves, was one of their target, the Schnee Matriarch. The four of them marched their way right in front of her, crushing pottery under their feat as well as a spilled tea pot. A table and chair was knocked down near by, presumably when the first explosion happened. She stood up to them, her back straight in a show of bravado, but the faunuses knew it was just a front. They only needed to look at her eyes and they saw unshed tears.

Humans were pathetic.

"Where's the girl?" The leader asked as his three subordinates immediately trained their guns on the Schnee.

"I'm afraid she's not here. My daughter is out with her father today." The Schnee woman said, which earned her a backhanded strike from the faunus leader. She crumpled to the floor, and clutched the cheek where the faunus struck her. She turned to look back at him gave him a defiant glare.

"You're lying." He told her with a growl.

The Schnee scoffed. "What mother would tell such obvious scoundrels like you where her daughter is?"

The faunus sneered. He wasn't going to let her get away with that. No, he was going to discipline her. He would-

 _"This is Bull! The humans are starting to push us back! We need back up!"_

Just then, his communicator interrupted him. Pushing his thoughts for later, he turned to two of his men. "Back them up." He nodded towards the exit. His men nodded and ran out through the hole. Then the leader turned to his last subordinate and gave him an order: "Find the girl."

The faunus gave him a nod and started smelling the air. The whole of Hound team was made of canines, and he was a bloodhound. It wouldn't take him long to find the little Schnee.

"You should stop this foolishness now." The Schnee said as she was left alone with the faunus leader, who was standing over her prone body. "You're actions will just get more and more of your men killed."

In reply, the faunus leader gave her a kick to her stomach. The Schnee cried out in pain, but the faunus ignored her as he stomped on her stomach again and again, not realizing blood was forming between her legs.

"Lowly humans like you need to learn your place!" The faunus sneered. "Humans are unqualified to be ruling the nations! You're lot has done nothing but create war and strife. Not only do you take advantage over faunuses, but you take advantage over each other! That is only further proof you humans are not fit to be in any position of power.

"Having have to rely on lies and deceit means you humans are weak! Nature does not weaker individuals should mate with stronger, she wishes even less for the inferior ones like you to have such a high standing in life! You call yourself a noble? An aristocrat? Don't make me laugh! The Grimm should have ended you kind all those centuries ago! But instead you took the kindness of the faunuses and put us in the front lines, sacrificing our lives so that your kind can live comfortably! I say no more! We will take what is rightfully ours and you and your family will be the first example of divine retribution!"

"Gotcha!" A voice yelled from further inside the Conservatory.

"Noooo! Let me go, let me go!" Cried the little Schnee.

The Schnee Matriarch paled and looked towards the source of the screaming. Not long after, the bloodhound faunus and her daughter came into view. The little Schnee struggled in the faunus' grasps as he held her in one arm, while his other hand still held the assault rifle.

The little Schnee looked towards the clearing and spotted her mother lying on the ground. "Mama!" She cried out, arms reaching to her mother.

"Shut it brat!" The bloodhound yelled at her and gave her a rough yank as stepped close to his Alpha.

"Don't you dare hurt my daughter you- ahhh!" The Schnee Matriarch started to get up, but then cried out in pain as the faunus leader stomped her on her back.

"Mama!"

"You're not in a position to be making demands, you white haired bitch!" Alpha sneered at her, grinding his foot on her back as screamed in pain.

"RAIZAR!"

A new voice entered the foray, making the two faunuses look towards the entrance.

There, stood another human in a red dress, her amber eyes glaring at them in anger. Behind her was twenty guards of the Schnee family. Most of them was aiming assault rifles at him and bloodhound. The rifles even seemed to be the same model that his men were using. From the looks of it, they had killed three other teams.

"Let her go you bastard!" The red dressed human snarled with fury. From the way she was holding fireballs in her bare arms, the faunus leader could tell that the only thing holding her back was his rifle pointed at the Schnee Matriarch.

Then he recognized the red dressed human.

"Well, well, well... Lady Cinder Fall! I didn't think I'd see you here in this frozen wasteland!" Alpha said in a derisive manner. "Then again, you seem to like putting your nose in a scorching wasteland so I guess this a change of view for you."

The red dressed human- no, Cinder narrowed her eyes at Alpha. "From the way you spoke, I assume your a faunus from Menagerie before it had a city."

Alpha chuckled. "Got it in one."

"Good to know." Cinder said in a derisive ton. "Now, would you kindly get your foot off of Raizar and let Weiss go, and maybe we can all walk away from this."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" The faunus leader sneered. "I hold all the cards. You're precious Schnee is under my boot. You follow my orders or she dies!"

"Don't be a fool! Right now, we're blocking your only exit, but the cops have yet to arrive. You can still get away with your life, as well as those of your me." Cinder replied.

However, Alpha just chuckled. "You really don't get it do you? You don't get to make any demands! I have the hostage! You listen to me, or I'll break this white haired whore's back!" Then, as if to prove his point, he grinded his foot on the Schnee's back.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Mama! No!" The little Schnee yelled as she saw her mother cry in pain. She struggled and squirmed her body to try and get to her mother.

 _"Skraaaaaawww!"_ An animistic screech came from above, forcing everyone to look up and see a White and blue bird swoop down and slashed Alpha's face with it's claws.

"Gaaaah!" Alpha yelled in pain, taking a step back due to the force and one hand clutching half his face as blood leaked out of the gash.

"You damn overgrown parrot!" Bloodhound yelled at seeing his leader injured. He aimed his gun towards the bird and fired, missing the bird due to the recoil.

"Don't hurt Nix!" the little Schnee cried and, out of desperation, bit the hand holding her.

"GRRRRRAAAAAAHHHH! YOU DAMNED BRAT!" Bloodhound yelled and threw the little Schnee down.

"Weiss, no!" Raizar screamed. With Alpha's foot no longer on her back, she immediately got up ran towards her daughter.

* * *

Cinder watched in horror as everything fell into chaos. She willed her legs to start running, to sprint as fast as she could to try and get to her friend and her daughter, so she could shield them with her aura. But she knew, Oum did she knew, that she wasn't going to make it.

There was nothing she could do as Weiss hit the ground in a heap, then dog-eared faunus aimed her gun at the little girl. Raizar ran into her view, reached her daughter just in time and pushed her away.

Just as the gun roared to life.

 **"NOOOOOOOO!"**

* * *

"Mama?" Weiss called out to her mama, who was just lying down on the ground right in front of her. Vaguely, she could hear people scream and felt something hot fly over her head. However, she gave them no mind as she crawled to her mama.

"Mama... Get up mama..." She said, tugging at her mama's arm.

But she got no response.

"Mama, please get up... Mama, please..." She felt tears in her eyes and she started to sob, but her mama taught her big girls don't sob, so she held it in and sniffled.

Weiss then reached for Mama's face. She got scolded once to never grab someone's face because it was rude, but she wanted her mama to wake up.

"Mama... Mama, please... Wake up..."

Her mama's head turned to her. Her eyes were open.

But there was no life in them.

* * *

 _'That fool!'_ Alpha thought as he saw Bloodhound shoot the Schnee, and immediately get tackled by Cinder Fall. She showed him no mercy as she ripped him apart and burned him from the inside.

He glanced to the side,and saw the body guards were still too stunned at what they just saw. Then he glanced to the whore's daughter. She was still alive, and probably too traumatized at seeing her mother get killed right in front of her.

He still had a chance.

He dashed towards the little Schnee, let go of his rifle, took out his handgun, grabbed and lifted the Schnee, and aimed his pistol at her head.

"ALRIGHT, NOBODY MOVE!" He yelled, getting everyone's attention as the little Schnee cried and struggled in his arms.

"Mama..." the little girl cried, still trying to reach her dead mother.

"Everybody drop your weapons and get down on the ground!" Alpha ordered everyone, stepping away the corpse.

"Mama... Mama!"

The guards looked at each other, unsure what to do.

"I SAID DROP YOUR GUNS AND GET DOWN NOW!"

One by one, the guards complied. They dropped their guns and lied down on the floor.

"MAMA!"

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He yelled at her and giving her a rough yank. Then he took another step back.

 **"MAMA!"**

"IF YOU KEEP CRYING I'M GOING TO BLO-"

 **\- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! -**

* * *

Cinder let go of the dog-eared murderer, just as her own tears started falling down her cheeks. She's been around automatic weapons enough to know that Raizar Schnee, the closest thing Cinder would ever have for a sister, was dead. The murdering faunus hit the ground moaned in pain. He was still alive, but just barely. Most of his skin was burned black and she had ripped off a limb and crushed the bones of two other. Oh, she wasn't going to kill him. She'd make his life a living hell.

Then she heard the faunus leader demanding everyone to drop down on the ground. Oh she wanted to tear him limb from limb as well... But he had Weiss in his grasp. She cursed herself. She shouldn't have let her anger control her. Now Raizar's daughter was in danger and she could only silently cry, lest she agitates the faunus any further.

She started kneeling down on the ground, but kept her eyes on the faunus leader.

 **\- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! -**

Then he exploded.

No... **_Weiss_** exploded.

Weiss's **Aura** blasted everything around her away, causing the faunus leader's arm to fly off in one direction while the rest of his body was blown away in the opposite. She floated mid air for a second before her blue-white aura coalesce back around her body, causing her to land back on the ground. Then she got back onto her feet and ran back to Raizar's body.

Cinder gawked at what she just saw. Weiss had unlocked her Aura by herself. Then she got her wits back to her and ran towards the crying Weiss.

"Weiss, dear..." Cinder started, but not really knowing what to say. She knelt down next to the child and said the only thing she could "I'm so sorry..."

"Mama, please get up. Please..." Weiss however, just kept crying and calling out to her mother. She was still shaking Raizar's hand, trying to get her mother to wake up. Cinder's heart was already broken at the loss of her best friend, but it shattered once more as she a little girl desperately calling out to her mother. But she'll never get a reply...

Cinder couldn't hold the Tears any longer. They leaked out nonstop. "Weiss... Weiss dear... come here. Come on, have to go..." She told her softly and tried t gather Weiss in her arms.

Weiss struggled, but stopped as she realized who she was. "Aunt Cinder... Mama is... She won't..."

Whatever Weiss was going to say, it was cut off as she broke down into sobbing and burst into tears. Cinder wrapped her arms around her and let her head rest on her shoulders, while Weiss looped her arms around Cinder's neck. She drew circles on her back, trying to comfort the now motherless girl, while she herself weeped quietly for her best friend.

"... Ma'am." Someone approached the two of them slowly.

Cinder looked up to see Snowguard. His expression was solemn and tears marked his face. She nodded at him, realizing that Weiss wasn't fully out of danger yet. She looked towards the two faunuses, and realized they were still breathing. "Make sure those two survive." She ordered. Maybe Jacques would make the authorities look the other way and torture the faunuses later. She knew she would.

But first, she needed to keep Weiss safe. "Have everyone stay on high alert. Comb through the manor and make sure that the faunuses at the armory don't escape. If there are any more of them, call for help and inform me right away." She told them. Then she got up with Weiss still in her arms.

"Yes, ma'am..." Snowguard said, but fell in step with Cinder. "Where are you taking lady Weiss?" he asked her. He knew it was rude, but his employer's wife just got killed. He needed to know.

"Back to her room." Cinder said simply.

"Is that wise?" he asked in worry. The majority of the murdering animals might have been dealt with, but that didn't mean the Manor was safe.

"No." Cinder admitted. "But she needs to be somewhere familiar, somewhere she'll feel safe... And I'll be there with her."

At that, Snowguard nodded. If anywhere was safe in the Manor right now, it would be next to her. He turned back around and started ordering his men.

Cinder walked out into the snow covered garden, still carrying a crying Weiss in her arms. In the background, Snowguard was yelling orders while his men got to work. In the distance, she could hear police sirens approaching them at a hurried pace. In the air, however, was helicopters, both from the Atlas' Police Department and the local news agencies. Cinder sighed and hurried her steps to get to Weiss' room. _'Things would change...'_ She thought to herself, _'from here on out, things would change.'_

* * *

AND THAT'S THE FIRST CHAPTER!

 **NOT!**

There are a few things I still want to write, such as how Jacques is dealing with his mansion getting attacked and my OC's family. But honestly, as I kept writing the Schnee's side of things, it just kept getting longer and longer.

However, with it being Mother's Day and how the last part focused on Raizar, I thought I'd post most of it, if not half of it. I'm not sure how long Jacques scene will take me, as it was just a playful idea that walked into my head... Just like the hostage situation with Raizar and Cinder!

So yeah, I guess it is the first chapter... Maybe I'll do it Chapter 1.5 if the next two scenes aren't that long.

Honestly, I was going to end it with Cinder leaving Raizar, but then I had a very unique opportunity of giving Weiss a lot of backstory. So I took the opportunity of showing who Weiss's mother is... And where she is all this time.

I don't know about other people, but to me, Weiss has the most potential for growth. Out of the main cast, she's definitely my favorite.

* * *

Raizar Schnee isn't exactly an OC of mine. She is originally from [The New Gate], A Japanese Light Novel with a Manga adaption(LN has the better character art than the Manga though). I just took liberties with her personality, but I largely based her off of that.

If you like OP MC's that aren't a douche bag, isn't a total saint, and doesn't have a useless harem hanging around him, you should give it a read.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT**

* * *

 **As of 05/14/2017, the rewrite is still in progress! If you want to read the next chapters, that's fine. But I'll be doing quite some changes to it, especially with Weiss and Cinder's dynamic.**

 **It might take two weeks to properly finish up everything. I'm not just rewriting chapters. I'm also adding new ones to connect the story better.**


	2. Chapter 1 - A New Player

**_DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCs_**

* * *

 **IMPORTANT NOTE:**

 **As of 05/14/2017, the rewrite is still in progress! If you want to read the next chapters, that's fine. But I'll be doing quite some changes to it, especially with Weiss and Cinder's dynamic.**

 **It might take two weeks to properly finish up everything. I'm not just rewriting chapters. I'm also adding new ones to connect the story better.**

* * *

 **Trails of the Sun**

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **A New Player Enters The Game**

* * *

 **\- 07:00PM -**

 **\- CITY OF VALE -**

* * *

Sophia Solis was born, raised, and leads the island town of Nivage as it's mayor. She had raven black hair which she usually kept messy, but this time brushed it straight and tied it into a ponytail. As for her attire, she usually had verdant green eyes that hid behind her half-frame glasses with thin metal frame, and her usual lab coat, slack pants and white long sleeves. All of which were nowhere to be found. Instead, she wore contact lens for her eyes, a pencil skirt, white blouse, and deep blue cardigan.

As to why she wasn't in her usual attire, it's simply because she wasn't behind her desk in either her husbands office or her lab. She was sitting in a private table in a restaurant that valued its patrons privacy. As well as their main course dishes which was, sadly, turning cold by the second as the other woman infront of her was trying to shoot lasers out of her eyes.

She wasn't far off either. Smoke was literally coming out of her eyes.

"What do you want you thieving cat?" The woman all but spat with her arms crossed. She had ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes, while her fingernails are painted dark red. She currently wore a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.

"Good to see you too, Cinder." Sophia said as she went for her drink, a red wine that went along with her steak. She was trying to swallow how nervous she felt. She hoped she was doing a good enough job at it. This was the next crucial part in her plan and it all hinged on whether Cinder would listen to her or not. Considering she had a very good reason to just kill her on the spot, hopes weren't high. Still, she had an ace up her sleeve. "You've managed to look youthful for 17 years. What's your secret?"

"Cut the crap, Sophia." Cinder said her name like a curse. The room's temperature was rapidly increasing as Cinder's temper rose. "We both know we can't stand each other. And what is she doing here?" Cinder pointed to the last member of their table.

Glynda Goodwitch sat cautiously as she watched the two. She had light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses.

She wears a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings.

"Referee? Witness? Here to stop you from bathing in my blood?" Sophia supplied.

"Please." Cinder scoffed. "Even with Artem dead, I wouldn't-"

"Artem Solis is not dead." Sophia interrupted Cinder, putting her wine glass back down. Her ace was out. It was the one thing, the one person Cinder Fall truly desired. Artem Solis, Sophia's husband, and the lover Sophia stole from Cinder, 17 years ago.

The effect was immediate. Cinder's eyes widened, her mouth open mid breath, shock and disbelief plainly evident on her face. And she wasn't the only one shocked as Glynda also bore the same expression. But Glynda recovered quicker.

"Come now, Sophia." Glynda said softly, worry for her friend showed clearly in her eyes. "Surely it's time you've moved on from your husband's death? Your sons must have-"

"I know." Sophia said,raising a hand to stop her. "I know what I sound like. But it is what Artem's sons insist. That their father is alive."

Glynda furrowed her brows. "But that's impossible! Surely if he's alive he would have come straight back towards you. And even if he doesn't go to you for whatever reason, if someone saw that the heroic Dust Prism is alive and well, news agencies around the world wouldn't be silent about it. I mean, his Semblance isn't exactly subtle!

"That is true Glynda. If he left on his own will that is..." Sophia said.

"You're not implying he was kidnapped are you?" Glynda scoffed at the implications. Artem Solis, a man revered as a hero for stopping a war while he was little more than the age of 12, fought off countless tides of grimm, and erected towns and cities for the common people be restrained? Mankind would sooner go to the moon!

"I am not implying it. I'm plainly declaring it to you now."

"Then why now? After eight years, why tell us he was kidnapped now?"

"To keep my children safe." Sophia said as Glynda scoffed, but Sophia continued. "Think about it Glynda. Whoever was able to restrain my husband eight years ago, must surely have some power behind them. In fact, I would never have believed it myself. The only reason why I have hope, is because Dante and Angel insist that the people that told us Artem was dead was lying through their teeth."

"But surely you should have-"

Sophia stopped Glynda again. "I will tell you everything. But it would take time. If you would humor me, I would like to know if both of you are willing to help us first." She then looked towards Cinder who hadn't said a word.

Cinder was silent from the very moment she was told Artem was alive. She was still silent, turning all the new information over her head. When she came and sat down at the table, her arms had been crossed, holding back the urge to throttle the woman in front of her. The woman that stole her beloved Artem. Who she believed dead.

But here was her most hated enemy, telling her that he was alive. She uncrossed her arms, placed her elbows on the table and clasped her fingers together in thought. If he was found, the most likely scenario is for him to go back to Sophia's arms.

On the other hand... He would be alive.

He would be breathing, speaking, and doing whatever that pleased him. He would be watching the same world, walking on the same planet and breathing same air as Cinder. A small part of Cinder screamed that wasn't enough.

But most of her? She just wanted to see him at least one more time.

"Say I believe you..." Cinder finally said. "What is it that you want me to do?"

"Cinder, you can't possibly mean to entertain-" Glynda started but was cut off when Cinder raised her hand own hand, wanting to hear Sophia's request.

Sophia smiled. "I want you to help find the boys good partners. After all, Beacon places quite the importance in teamwork."

At that, Cinder raised a brow. "Oh? I was under the impression that you wanted me to go and wreck havoc on the Schnee family mansion. Did you not want to find your husband at your most likely suspect's home?"

Sophia shook her head. "There are more than the Schnee's who I am wary of. The Schnee's were simply the first to make a move, thus the first target of my grief eight years ago. After a while, other people were making attacks on our town, albeit a lot more subtly. And when I noticed, I kept my mouth shut.

"But I digress. We as the Solis family have already made plans. And will take responsibility for their consequences on our own heads."

Glynda gasped, putting two and two together. "Your going to let your sons do something illegal!"

"No need to make it sound so seedy, Glynda." Sophia joked, trying to alleviate her worries, but also dreaded admitting to them that her boys were going to commit crime. "Think of it as... Simply trying to look up for the correct information... In a restricted section of a library. Nothing more."

Glynda glared at her, ever the law abiding and upright woman she is. "And you promise you won't use that information as blackmail or other such nefarious deeds?"

"No promises. If making war and drawing blood are what it takes to get Artem, then so be it. Let alone blackmail and threats." Sophia said with a finality.

"I can respect that."

"Cinder Fall!" Glynda shouted, indignant.

"Oh stop it Glynda." Sophia said, and prepared the bait to get Glynda to join her plans. "If it was your husband missing you would do the same."

Glynda sighed as she placed a hand on her temple. Sophia now had Glynda hooked, lined, and sinkered. That was the reason her trust extended to these two. One was the woman that had the same love for Artem as her. The other was a fellow wife and mother. If Glynda's husband was kidnapped, she'd raise hell and her children would bring down the heavens. "Fine... I'll at least hear you out. However, I still don't get why I'm here and why is it important for your children to get good partners."

Cinder was wondering that too. "Don't tell me the boys aren't skilled enough to survive Beacon."

Sophia shook her head. "Of course not. If anything, the boys are too skilled. You can thank Artem's training for that." Sophia took a deep breathe and sighed, her entire demeanor turning a bit more solemn. "No, the reason why I want your help in this is because I'm a logical person by nature. And despite what I've just told, there is no guarantee that Artem WOULD be alive when this all ends. After all, he was kidnapped without any demand or ransom for eight years. Those type of cases tend to not have a happy ending.

"What would that do to Artem's sons? From the age of eight, the boys have stopped at nothing but to try and prepare themselves to go make war against whoever took Artem and bring him home.

"Or even if they do find him alive, what then? They haven't truly made dreams or set goals for themselves, let alone find companionship with other children their age. Just a single minded determination to their current mission."

Cinder grimaced when Sophia described Artem's sons. "Ugh, they sound so much like their father." She massaged her temples, remembering how hard it was to persuade Artem from doing something completely reckless. "So... you want them to have maximum compatibility, personality wise, with their partners? Then I'll need their bio with a psych profile."

"Of course." Sophia said, trying to keep her relief from her voice. She handed Cinder a flash drive, prompting the other woman to raise a brow.

"You've been preparing for this."

Sophia shrugged. "We've had eight years to plan. Anyone could make a plan to take over a city with that kind of time."

Cinder thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded to Sophia's comment. For whatever reason, Glynda felt shivers go down her spine when she saw Cinder's smile. She was suddenly glad she had Cinder as a colleague.

"I'd like to see the list of people you've chosen if you don't mind." Sophia added.

"Fine." Cinder agreed. "Then the only problem left is Ozpin." Then she and Sophia turned to Glynda.

"W-what?" She asked, surprised that their attention was on her now.

"We need your help to convince Ozpin." Cinder stated. Glynda shot her a _"You can't be serious"_ look in reply. "Oh, don't give me that look. All three of us know how secretive Ozpin is. It's likely that he already knows who's entering Beacon this coming year and which teams are going to form. I have no doubt that he already engineered the 'random' encounter at the Initiates Exam to his most desired outcome."

Glynda sighed. "Fine, I'll help." I suppose you want me to 'engineer' as you put it, where the boys would launch and who they're going to have as partners?" Sophia nodded in confirmation. Using her Semblance to subtly change 8 examinees' trajectory wouldn't be too difficult, even with Ozpin right next to her. "Very well. On the condition you tell us exactly why you haven't told anyone this for eight years. And I mean everything."

Sophia nodded, then looked to her wine glass. "I'm going to need more wine..."

* * *

 **\- TWO WEEKS LATER -**

 **\- CAFE GATEAUX -**

 **\- 07:00 PM -**

* * *

Cinder fall was enjoying the last week of her summer break in cafe Gateaux. It wasn't a famous cafe by any stretch. It was situated in one of the less crowded streets in Vale, and was really of no significant importance. They simply served her favorite combination of red velvet and red eye coffee. She took another bite out of her cake and she could feel its rich moist texture slide down her throat.

Her meeting with Sophia was two weeks ago and she managed to narrowed her list of candidates to just a few girls.

In the beginning, she had thought about using boys as well. But once she took a glance at them, they all just seemed... lackluster. The problem actually lay in that the Solis boys.

According to the data she received from Sophia, all four of the boys had excellent combat abilities, which might cause other young men to feel inferior or jealous. Not that they couldn't probably spin that around if they were team leaders, but that would just increase her search to 12 boys that would at least keep up with the Solis'.

She scrapped that idea entirely and was left looking through all the female candidates she could use. She found her first potential candidate a week after she started. She was the Faunus representative of Menagerie's Oasis Capital City. She was their top student with exceptional scores in both physical and mental exams. However, Cinder focused more on her character and personality. She was reticent, had a love of books, a strong sense of fairness, and a history of speaking up against bullies to defend the weak.

She found her second potential candidate a few days after that. A legacy child from a family of Hunters. Though her father was no longer in active duty and her mother disappeared off the grid, both of them are still well regarded in Hunter circles. Though, this girls academic scores was just average, it seemed it was her conduct that left a great many things to be desired. In fact, they listed her off as; uncontrollable, unpredictable, lack of respect to authority, and extremely provocative.

If Cinder wasn't looking at the girls picture, she would swear Signal Academy was describing her. Especially at the last word, which could mean the girl was either very annoying, or very sexually arousing. Cinder added her to the list without a second thought.

And now Cinder was presently at the cafe. She kept scrolling through her list, took a few bites of her cake, and took sips at her coffee, and scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled even further down the list.

Until finally... She was at the end of the list. She cursed inwardly. Two girls. Thats all she could come up with. Well, there were a few candidates like that Nikos girl and there was the one Sophia might get angry at...

' _Sophia might get angry at. Hmm..._ ' Cinder mused. ' _Well, it wasn't like there was an abundance of very unique girls, and there was the added bonus of possibly ticking off Sophia. The girls attitude however... she definitely wouldn't be easy to handle.'_ Cinder knew the girls parents. Having met both of them when they were 12, and having the mother the closest thing she could of have had as a sister. ' _They matured quite well as they grew up... Maybe pairing the daughter with one of the boys would also make her mature faster.'_

' _Now all that left was a fourth-'_

 **\- CRASH - CRACKLE - BANG -**

Cinder and everyone in the cafe looked outside the cafe's window. Grunting, cursing and gunshots could be easily heard. It was evident that a fight had broken out. However, all everyone saw was a rain of roses with the sound of gunshots replacing thunder. Except for Cinder. She could clearly see a young girl wearing a red hood with an intimidating looking scythe twirling around a group faunus who were wearing the uniform of the Red Fang*. She was clearly beating them with hardly any trouble and she wielded her scythe masterfully.

 _'Hmm... Interesting... I might have just found the fourth girl...'_ Cinder thought.

* * *

 **\- STREETS OF VALE -**

 **\- A FEW MINUTES LATER -**

* * *

Cinder took out her scroll and dialed a number. It was the Zone Alarm program. Usable by any citizen in Vale, it allowed people in an area to be alerted of any possible danger, allowing normal people to evacuate and alerting both the police and any Hunter in the area to come as quickly as possible. As she finished, she turned to watch the little red reaper as she wielded her over sized Scythe, mowing down her opponents at unbelievable speed.

Each time the girl moved, she left behind a trail of roses. At first, one might think the trail of roses did nothing. But as Red kept going circles around the Fang's, they finally realized the roses also served as a distraction and cover, blending the scythe wielder in the sea of red. They then started grouping together, trying to use a formation but they were complete amateurs. They got beaten quite easily.

But it didn't seem like they were backing down. A faunus that seemed to be their leader took out a flare gun and fired it into the sky. At the signal, all the Red Fangs got back on their feet for one last struggle, but it was still ultimately useless.

Cinder was then getting bored of watching. Evidently, the little grim reaper was just too much to handle for the Red Fangs.

That is, until Red Ridding Hood was suddenly lit up by a spot light.

Cinder was alarmed and looked up to see Drop-Ship! It was armed with mini guns and what looked like several rounds of ammo. Cinder had to wonder what the heck Vale's air defense was doing to let a military grade Drop-Ship just fly around civilian air space.

The Red Fang then all used their race's special trait of increased physique and jumped up as the drop-ship opened its doors to allow them in. It would have been fine if they just flew up and left at that point, but the ship's guns started rotating, aiming everything they had at the girl.

It was then that Cinder decided to step in.

Ciner dashed towards the girl and pulled her behind her. "Get behind me." She said tersley, then activated her aura and formed a forcefield in front of her and the girl at the nick of time. The Drop-Ship's gun's open fired and Cinder's forcefield was pelted with high caliber round.

The guns fired for a full minute, threatening to crack Cinder's defense wide open. But the shield held and the machine guns eventually overheated.

Not letting the chance slip by, Cinder raised her hand and activated her Semblance. A large fireball hovered above her palm. She tossed it upwards and it hanged above her. Then the fire ball duplicated itself. And again. And again. Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen and it continued until dozens of fireballs surrounded Cinder like a multitude of stars.

She smirked, and with a flick of her wrist, all the fireballs launched themselves at Drop-Ship. Each exploding like a tiny rocket. Her bombardment didn't last long and in the next instance, it was already over.

The Drop-Ship came crashing down to the street, most of it was melted and threatening to explode in any second. Cinder then snapped her fingers, and all fire extinguished itself, preventing any explosion from happening.

Cinder sent a pulse with her aura, and she was able to confirm she was able to avoid any deaths... Though they might be suffering burns. Oh well, it's part and parcel with being a terrorist group.

"Oh my gosh your a huntress!" Cinder heard the girl behind her say then she turned around to meet a star struck gaze. "Can I have your autograph?"

Cinder smiled. "I-

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

Before Cinder could say anything, Glynda appeared out of nowhere behind them. And she looked very, very peeved. She was giving Cinder the look she gave her students whenever they were in big trouble. The kind that got you expelled from Beacon before you could even blink. Well, not like Cinder was a student. She ranked higher than Glynda as a Huntress too.

Oh wait, Glynda had a higher position than her in Beacon... Damn it!

Cinder sighed. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **\- VALE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT -**

 **\- 08:00 PM -**

* * *

"Do you have any idea how reckless you were being!?"

Cinder suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and watched as Glynda paced to and fro in front of her. They were now in Vale Police Department, just outside one of the interrogation rooms which held the red hooded girl from earlier.

"You put yourself in front of an armed Drop-Ship! They had miniguns Cinder! With high caliber rounds!" Glynda rebuked.

"Hey, I stopped them didn't I? I'm pretty sure that comes with being a Huntress."

Glynda scoffed. "And destroyed half a block! You're lucky no one died and that Drop-Ship merely crashed into the street!"

"All part of my calculations." Cinder smirked. Which was true, since she did alert the whole neighborhood and killed the fire herself. "And the collateral damage wasn't my fault. Go tell the Red Fang goonies that."

"We can't! They're in the ICU. All of them have second to third degree burns." _"And it's all your fault."_ Glynda glared the unsaid remark.

Cinder rolled her eyes. It was natural to get injuries in a fight. So some buildings have holes in their wall. The street has a massive crater. The area around it was glassed like a mini sun dropped in for a second. Big deal! No one died. Artem would have asked for a high five for it.

"I'll take it from here Glynda."

The two women turned, just as Ozpin casually walked towards them with a plate of cookies and a mug of coffee, causing eyebrows to be raised. The mug of coffee was normal. But the plate of cookies?

"For Ruby Rose. To calm her down." Ozpin answered the unasked question. "Glynda, please go inside with Ms. Rose while I have a brief chat with Cinder."

"... Of course, headmaster." Glynda nodded then gave Cinder a look that said _"Don't screw Sophia's plan up."_

 _'Of course I won't. I wouldn't have gone all the trouble of tonight if I planned too.'_ Cinder thought but then stood up straight and looked towards Ozpin. "Good evening, headmaster."

"Professor Fall." Ozpin nodded and smiled his greeting. "Enjoyed your evening?"

"I did. Up until Glynda acted... well, like Glynda."

"She means well."

"Of course. Was there anything you needed headmaster?" Cinder asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Just a question. What made you go out of your way and get in between a fight?" Ozpin asked. "Usually, you just let your students deal with the consequences of their action. What made this one different?"

Cinder smiled as she put on a mask. In her years as a teacher in Beacon, she got to know Ozpin's character very well. He was a very cunning man. He might show care, but only when it suits him. He's the type of man that believes the ends justify the means, and he would place students in danger to achieve that. Which was why Cinder was brutal to her own students. They needed to be prepared for whatever Ozpin threw at them.

"I saw potential." Cinder said in a shrug, then placed one hand on her hip, Making sure not to cross her arms as she tells her story. "But she lacked the skill to deal with the problem. She's young and a little rough around the edges but given time, she could be a very prominent Huntress in her generation. But it was just not now. So I had to intervene before that potential was snuffed out."

Ozpin nodded and kept his calm smile. "Indeed. Considering Ms. Rose is only 15 years old, the situation was a little over her head."

That caught Cinder by surprise. She was hoping Ruby was the fourth candidate she would have. But now it looks like she'll have to consider Nik-

"Which is why I'm thinking of inviting her to Beacon this year. But as the person that watched her fight personally, do you think we should give her the chance?"

Oh. Well... it seems the situation resolved itself. "I stand by what I said. I believe she is a little young." Cinder said, trying to show that she wasn't too eager to have the girl. "However, if she has already mastered her control over her weapon, then I see no reason why she can't enter the Entrance Exam and have her try her luck."

Ozpin stared at her for a moment, making Cinder wonder if there was something wrong with what she said. But Ozpin nodded again and smiled in approval. "Quite right Cinder. I'll take care of the paperwork for the skirmish awhile ago. You can have the rest of your night off."

Cinder smiled and nodded her thanks. "Then if you'll excuse me headmaster." She then turned to the exit and was going to enjoy the rest of her night off by giving Sophia her list.

* * *

 **\- NIVAGE -**

 **\- MAYOR'S OFFICE -**

 **\- 09:00 PM -**

* * *

 **\- BEEP -**

Sophia was sitting on her desk as she was finishing up the paperwork to hire mercenaries when she got an email from Cinder.

She immediately opened it, expecting the list of candidates for the boys. She was surprise to find it was all girls and there was only four of them. _'Was Cinder confident with the abilities of the four, or was there really just a lack of interesting people that could keep up with her sons?'_ Sophia wondered. Then she spotted the third girls name, making her pause. Then she smiled at where Cinder was going with that one. Or at least she thinks so.

 _'Cinder, are you trying to play matchmaker with my husbands sons and your dear friends daughter?'_ Sophia thought.

She only needed the third girls name to believe it.

 _'Schnee... They have quite the good history between Cinder and Artem. Artem had to save them to stop a war from erupting after all.'_ Sophia met them too of course. However, she holds a grudge against the Schnee's. They were the first to betray their family when Artem went missing.

 _'Or maybe Cinder simply added the girl, thinking it would rub me the wrong way? Ah well, no matter. If the girl was going to Beacon, the boys would definitely seek her out. Better to just have her near from the start._

 _'Although... if she ever finds out what the boys would be doing... Things could get messy..._

 _'Oh well, whatever. The boys should be able to handle it.'_

So she ignored Cinders attempt at ruining her night and forwarded the list to Glynda and went back to finishing her paperwork for the mercenaries. After that, she would need to start looking for people she could hire for her R&D department. After all, you need to arm your army with the best possible weapons you can have.

* * *

 **\- ONE WEEK LATER -**

 **\- BEACON ACADEMY/VALE CITY-**

 **\- DAY OF THE ENTRANCE EXAM -**

 **\- 07:00 AM -**

* * *

The Entrance Exam of Beacon always took two days to complete. The first day was spent doing three things. The arrival of the students, the orientation, and a tour of the campus with the students needing to sleep over for the night. The second day was simply the preparation for the exam and the exam itself.

As for why not all students arrived on the first day was simply because other students lived in other countries or in remote settlements that have no easy access to Vale. The island town of Nivage was the latter of these things. The Solis boys will simply have to arrive on the second day

So when morning came, Glynda and Cinder started their day as usual. Cinder woke up alone in her dimly lit, professor's room in Beacon. While Glynda woke up in her home, with a kiss from her husband as he greeted her with a "good morning, love". They started their day as normal, preparing for breakfast, sipping tea or coffee, and grabbing their scroll to make sure everything was normal as they slept.

They weren't expecting anything about the airship from Nivage, flight call VC 512. They expected it to have arrived with the boys with no incident, and that they were already on their merry way to Beacon. Just in time for breakfast and have a quick run down of the Academy's lay out.

Instead, the first thing they see in the news was that VC 512 was attacked by aeronaut pirates and have gone completely off grid.

The two professors spewed/dropped their coffee/cup of tea and immediately forgot about breakfast. They ran to their respective desktop, and made a video call to Sophia. Sophia answered their call quickly and neither was surprise to see that it had become a conference video between the three of them.

" "Sophia, have you seen the news!?" " The two professors said simultaneously.

"Of the airship? Of course I've seen it. Now stop yelling so early in the morning." Sophia said irritably. She was already wearing her lab coat and had dark bags underneath her eyes, evidence she hasn't had any sleep.

"So what do we do? Your plan is now..." Glynda started but Sophia raised her hand and stopped her.

"The plan continues. It'll take more than just a few aeronaut pirates to stop Artem's sons. They'll get to Vale, even if they have to ride grimm to do it." Sophia said as tried to cover a yawn. "I can speculate the boys will arrive in Vale in time for the exam, but I still don't expect them to make it."

Confused, Glynda furrowed her brows. "What makes you say that?"

"Cinder, have you met Vale's police chief?" Sophia asked.

Cinder scoffed. "Which Hunter hasn't? He's a pain in the ass and one of the most vocal for calling down Hunters. I just dodged meeting him last week. Why do you ask?"

"It's not that he hates Hunters per-se." Sophia typed something on her console and an old news article of Vale popped up in front of the two professors. The headline read _"Chief calls for local hero's imprisonment."_ "It's just that the chief hates vigilantes and people doing the police's job. What do you think the chief would do if the boys arrived with airship and the pirates bound and tied?"

Cinder groaned. "Ugh... He'll do everything he can to delay and inconvenience the boys., preventing them from getting to the exam in time... Fine, I'll take care of it."

"Wait, why do you know about Vale's chief of police and his polices towards vigilantism?" Glynda asked.

"Considering the activities of the boys are going to be... less than legal, I endeavored to looked up if the chain of command of Vale's police force could be bought to look the other way." Sophia answered.

"Ugh... Why am I going along with this..." Glynda said, feeling a headache coming, she massaged her temples. "... Fine. As my husband says, in for a sickle, in for a gringott. Since the plan continues, my job is to still convince Ozpin to have the boys partnered with the girls. Oh, and just so you know, I discovered that the jump pad of the girls are set so that their most likely encounter is to meet one another before anyone else. I don't know what his plans are but it's obvious he wants the girls together."

Sophia thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Though she has no way of knowing what it was that Ozpin is planning. And with the Schnee heiress gaining Ozpin's interest, there would be no way to untangle her sons from his sights. Even if she wasn't planning on having her sons mixed with the girls, she had no doubt her eldest would go and seek the Schnee out. Partner or not.

Now whether he was just going to use her or actually get along with the girl was up in the air at the moment.

"In any case, trying to convince Ozpin shouldn't be too difficult. He has a bad habit of placing all his eggs in one basket. If there's nothing else, I would like to get some sleep now."

"I'm curious though Sophia." Cinder stopped her, wanting to ask a question. "If you have been up all night, and it wasn't because you were worried about... your sons." She paused, not liking the words. She just now noticed that Sophia had been careful with all their conversation. Referring to the boys as Artem's sons. Not her own. Likely done to not rub her in the wrong way. Damn the woman. "What have you been doing?"

"Paperwork..." Sophia said, covering a yawn. "I looked for some engineers and sent them an invitation to work here in Nivage."

"And why, pray tell, are you in need of engineers? Specifically those you had to search for? If I recall, you're quite the brilliant inventor."

Sophia shrugged. "I simply need the extra hands. Ones that can place their loyalty to Nivage. If that's all, I really need to get some sleep. The boys would be calling soon. Good night ladies." And with that, Sophia cut off her connection and left the two professors.

"I don't like it." Glynda said. "Sending her sons to Vale to play detective? Giving us secure channels to talk privately? And now she's hiring engineers in an agricultural and mining town? She's up to something... More than just looking for Artem."

"No... That's not quite right..." Cinder said in thought, shaking her head. "Looking for Artem IS their objective, but they're being... Overkill... I would say. But if you're right about Ozpin purposefully wanting the girls in a team, and considering the Red Fang's actively as of late... I feel as if we just stepped into a bigger game than just a family looking for their patriarch."

Glynda groaned. "And to think the term hasn't even started yet..."

* * *

 **\- AT THE SAME TIME -**

 **\- 30,000 FEET ABOVE THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER OF SANUS* -**

* * *

 **"YOU IDIOTS!"** A young teenage male yelled. He had vermilion red hair that reached his shoulder and he wore half frame spectacles just like his mother. **"YOU DESTROYED THE NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS! HOW IN REMNANT DO YOU THINK WE GET OURSELVES TO BEACON NOW!?"**

"It wasn't my fault!" said another vermilion haired boy. He wore a sleeveless vest and loose white shirt.

"Oh it so totally was! The radar has huge gash on it see?" Another youth piped in. His hair sprouted from his helmet and his entire body was covered in plate armor.

"And the radio has a fist sized hole that fits _YOUR_ arm!" The second youth countered.

"Both of you shut up, I'm trying to think!" A fourth boy yelled over them, his vermilion hair swept back and spiky. For a moment everyone was stilled, and then his verdant green eyes sparkled with mischief. He locked gazes with the spectacled youth. "I've got an idea... and I don't think your going to like it."

* * *

 **SANUS -** The largest continet in the world of Remnant, where the city-nation of Vale is situated. Just an FYI, since it's a little tidbit of lore that can be easily forgotten. Yes, the name is totally canon.

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright, let's try this again!

If it still isn't obvious enough, **THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE** fanfiction. The only thing I want to hear is "Out of Character" to most characters as I actually do like the characers pre-time skip. So please, no "THEY'RE CALLED WHITE FANG, YOU ELETROCUTED PLEB!".

I've changed things. A LOT of things.

Don't worry, I will reveal them all in good time! (Except Glynda's husband. That's actually a fic idea I have which would be a RWBY x Harry Potter crossover. I added it in only for shit and giggles. Anyone care to guess which character?)

If you've noticed, this fic used to be titled "Trails of the Comet", but as I kept thinking of the future chapters, I realized I lacked solid "history".

For example I previously had no idea why Artem WAS a hero. Only that he was. So I had to imagine the whole thing from the ground up! How he met Cinder, how he is now considered a hero, why the Faunus now have a capital city and why White Fang is now **Red Fang**.

I'm really excited about this because I've now laid down a good foundation as well as set up a time line of events. Most of Year 1, Parts of Year 2, and a little bit of Year 3 and beyond.

 **\- IMPORTANT -** **IMPORTANT -** **IMPORTANT -**

Do you guys want me to write a codex of sorts? Strictly for OC characters. The problem with that though is that it could have spoilers. Let me know in the reviews! See you next time!


	3. Chapter 2 - Airheads and Birdbrains

_**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCs**_

 **A/N:** This used to be one long chapter of 12K words. But then I spliced them all up into 3K words. Why?

Cuz I'm a filthy sellout. Gotta get em' Clicks.

Shout out to Toy2711 and doctor3378 for being my first followers for this fic!

I'll see you guys tomorrow for the next chapter! But please do comment and review!

* * *

 **Trails of the Sun**

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **Air Heads and Bird Brains**

* * *

 **\- 14 HOURS EARLIER -**

 **\- 10:00 PM-**

 **\- VIEWING DECK -**

 **\- 40,000 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL -**

* * *

The night sky was painted with innumerable number of stars above the sea. VC 512, a Cruiser-Class Airship flew itself towards the central continent of Sanus. The continent where the Kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo were situated. The airship and its crew was on its final flight for the month as they had been flying around the world, delivering and picking up cargo from cities and frontier towns alike. Their last stop was on the island town of Nivage. A quiet enough town with no grimm. They resupplied their depleted Dust crystals and delivered a biweekly cargo and picked up passengers departing the peaceful town.

Unlike city airships, which were used for short distance travel, VC 512 boasted four lift thrusters on it's side. it also had 6 boosters at the back to give them some decent speed of 25 miles per hour. Due to the nature of Remnant, the airship was crewed not just by ordinary civilians, but military trained personnel. The ship itself was armed as heavy as possible while giving it enough speed to run away from aerial grimm at a moment's notice.

The airship's viewing platform was also set at the front of the airship, just below the bridge. It gave the passengers an excellent 180 degree view of the sky. It was there that four quadruplet boys were lounging around, enjoying the start of their adventure.

It was quite obvious that they were quadruplets. They all looked to be the same age, had vermilion red hair, and each bore their family crest on their clothing, which took the shape of the sun. They simply lounged on one of the many benches in the room. One admired the beauty of the night sky, another was reading a book, another was bored out of his mind and was playing games on his scroll, and the last one was admiring a different kind of beauty. One that every female in the room possessed.

 **\- ALARM - ALARM- ALARM -**

An alarm suddenly rang out through the ship. Passengers started looking around with fear, asking what was going but getting no answer. After a moment the captain of the ship made an announcement.

" **Attention all personnel, a pirate ship been spotted on the radar and is approaching our location. All passengers please proceed to your rooms immediately. I repeat, a pirate ship has been spotted. Passengers please proceed to your rooms in an orderly matter immediately. All crew to your stations."**

"Guys! Did you hear that?" The red haired youth that played with his scroll exclaimed. "Pirates! Actual aeronaut pirates! This is going to be awesome!" Axel Solis said excitedly, while two of his brothers looked at him like he was an idiot. Among the four of his brothers, he was the most muscular. His hair was just as red as his brothers, except it was cut short, styled forward and clean. He wore a loose, simple white shirt with a sleeveless black vest with white trimmings and the family crest on his back . He had simple loose pants for easy movement and black sneakers for shoes.

Despite the clean, and almost military hairstyle, the boyish features never left Axel's face. Especially whenever he had that cheeky grin on his face. Which was almost all the time. Including right now.

"You obviously don't know what you're talking about. " Angel Solis said, fixing his half-frame spectacles. "This is a civilian air craft." Axel just looked at him with a plastered smile that said _"So?"._

Angel had to resist rolling his eyes and throttling his brother. "Which means the ship we're on is armed only just enough to **RUN AWAY**. "

He was the bookwork among his brothers. Angel was the least physically fit among them, but it's wrong to call him flimsy. His hair ended just below the ears, but was well groomed and neat. He wore a customized lab coat that had its buttons aligned to the right side of his body. He wore simple black slacks underneath the coat and a pair of black boots. The family crest was etched on the coat's left breast.

"That's a good thing." Zero Solis piped in. "It means we can join the fun!" Despite him being the youngest of the quadruplets, he was the tallest and the second brawniest among them. He had long hair and kept it in a low ponytail with two or three loose strands of hair falling over his brow. He wore a dark purple-white striped dress shirt with a black dress vest on top. He had black slacks, and loafers as his foot wear. The family crest decorated the right breast of his vest.

"Yeah, and endanger the women and children on board." Dante Solis said sarcastically. "Brilliant idea!" The eldest of the Solis quadruplets, Dante wore a custom fit double-breasted white button shirt, black combat pants, and boots. The family crest decorated both of his short sleeves. He was of medium build and kept his red hair swept back, but spiky as it came to the back, giving him a mix of both mature and relaxed look.

"Sarcasm is the lowest for form of wit, Dante." Zero snarked.

"And whoever said that was just mad he couldn't get it." Dante countered.

"Oh, I get it alright. I just there's more to wit than being sarcastic."

"Says the guy that got slapped by a girl for saying a corny line."

"I'll have you know-"

"Hey, you four!" All four Solis turned towards an airship steward, yelling at them from the exit. They only now noticed that all the other passengers had already left the observation deck and were the only bickering occupants left.

"Didn't you hear the announcement?" Due to the sudden pump of adrenaline in his system, the steward grabbed Axel by the wrist and dragged him towards the door, failing to realize Axel was at least half a head taller and twice as broad as him. "Get back to your cabin NOW!" Axel for his part was too surprised by the show of bravado (or trained panic response in reality) and quietly followed the steward. The three remaining quadruplets shrugged and followed Axel out the Viewing deck and into the corridors.

* * *

 **\- SHIP'S CABIN -**

* * *

"Ugh... BORING! Our ship just ran!" Axel complained, diving face first on his lower bunk bed.

Once the boys left the viewing deck (and trying to calm a panicked steward as he realized he was dragging someone who looked like he could snap a man in two), they were promptly escorted by the steward back to their cabin. The ship meanwhile accelerated it's speed, not even firing a single shot towards the pirates. The ship swayed starboard, port, up, and down as they maneuvered to get out of view of the pirates in the cover of night. The captain made another announcement not son after, telling the passengers they were currently flying with a cloud as they had lost sight of the pirates and were taking their time to arm the ship as quietly as possible then make a mad dash towards Vale while radioing for help.

The cabin the boys were staying in was of medium size, about 18 by 15 feet. To the left from the door were two bunk beds on each side of the room. A window lay between both beds and showed nothing but darkness. Opposite the beds were two sofa chairs.

One of the chairs was currently occupied by Zero as he lounged around. His feet dangling on one side as he reads a magazine courtesy of the ship.

Dante sat on the floor with carpet under him. He was rechecking the supplies held in his utility belt which had several pouches in them, containing everything in-between dust crystals, anti venoms, smoke bombs and spike caltrops. He also did maintenance work on his Dust Gauntlets, a pair of metal gauntlets that had dust cartidge that revolved around his forearm. He also sharpened his two shortswords, Notus & Euros. A pair of black and silver blades that could change to daggers and combine for a P90 submachine gun.

"I already told you, the tactics of the civilian aitship is to ALWAYS run away." Angel said from his bunk bed above Axel. Instead of reading a book like he did before, he was now simply writing on his journal.

"How do you even know that?" Zero asked.

"It said so right in their safety card. Didn't either of you read it?" Dante replied.

"Was too busy looking for girls. Speaking of which, what do you guys think of that first mate? She looks like the model in this magazine!" Zero flipped the magazine vertically, allowing the magazine to extend an extra page, revealing a full body photo of a scantly clad model

"Two hours after leaving Nivage and you're only looking for girls." Axel said, shaking his head. "Come on guys! Where's your sense of adventure? We could go out and wait for the pirates and jump them before they could board the ship!"

Angel stopped writing in his journal for a moment, but scraped Axel's idea. While it had merit, the brothers had to prepare for the Entrance Exam as well and they needed their energy. Dante and Zero also ignored Axel's plan and just kept doing what they were doing. Axel rolled his eyes "Whatever. I'm going to bed. Man I thought we could do something fun." He then turned to his side and faced the wall, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing as he lulled himself to sleep.

* * *

 **\- SIX HOURS LATER -**

* * *

"Hey wake up!" In an instant, something slammed down on Axel's stomach. Hard.

"Ow! What the fu..." Axel cursed, then stopped as he gazed up a rifle barrel and onto a mean looking, poorly dressed... _scoundrel._ There simply was no other word to describe him.

Axel knew he was likely one of the pirates chasing after them but... Axel pictured Pirates to... have a little more class. Instead, they were wearing mismatched old leather coats, messy hair, bandanas that had holes, and sun bleached pants. For weapons, chipped sabers and old modeled assault rifles.

"Get up. Slowly." The pirate ordered. Axel glanced around the room, spotting three other pirates, each pointing guns to his siblings. He met his eldest brothers eyes and he gave Axel a small, barley noticeable shake of his head.

Axel did as he was ordered, with arms on his head. Quickly, the pirates cuffed their arms behind them and took all their weapons. Dante's neatly (and obviously prepared) wrapped away gear in a towel, and Angel's composite bow, Glaw and quiver of arrows.

"Damn, what the hell is this!? It's too damn heavy!" An air pirate called out as he tried lifiting Axel's great sword, TriPhorus.

A monster of a thing, almost as tall as Axel when extended. Currently it was inactive and leaning on the wall. It had two slabs of metal acting as it's blade attached to a large cylindrical mechanism between them. It's guard looked more like an engine with exhausts pipes pointing away from the wielder, and a grip about half an arm in length.

"This thing too! And it's creepy as hell!" A third aeronaut pirate was trying to lift what looked like a scarab, complete with horn, shell, and legs, and was made completely out of steel. It rested behind the sofa where Zero was lounging earlier. It was as big as a man's torso. In fact, it looked like it would envelope a man's entire back.

"Leave it! Just get these bastards down with the other passengers." The first pirate barked and then shoved Axel out the door along with his brothers.

Axel glared at the man, and subtlety tense his body to spring on him, but was quickly stopped by a kick to his shin by Dante who moved next to him.

Axel turned to his brother. Brows furrowing, he whispered angrily to Dante "What gives? I can take them out easy."

 _"Shut up."_ Dante spat out. "I'm holding back too. First, we need to confirm if other passengers are safe."

Axel blinked. Realizing his brother was right, he released the strength he was holding and sighed. "Man, this isn't fun."

"Heroic." Dante said, looking straight ahead.

"Huh?"

He turned to meet Axel's eyes. Axel felt himself torn open and naked like an open book to Dante's verdant green eyes. "You thought it was going to be heroic. Like what the stories said about pops. Glorious battles, blazing glory, and daring rescues. A lot less of the waiting we've been doing and being held as hostages."

Then as quickly as it came, Dante turned away and Axel had his personal space once more.

Unnerved, Axel shook a shiver off. "Man, I hate it when he does that..." He said as he began walking behind his brothers, being lead by the pirates to the rest of the passengers.

* * *

 **\- CARGO BAY -**

* * *

The boys were taken down to the bottom deck, towards the cargo bay of the ship. There were a total of four large rooms in the ship. Each room was about 2 stories high and seemed to be as long as half a football field. The room was filled with various crates and supplies, a good portion of it being food that came from Nivage.

As the boys entered, they immediately noticed the passengers were held in a circle in the center part of the room in full view of the pirates. They were sitting down cross legged and their hands bound behind them in cuffs. As the boys neared, the pirates gave them the same treatment and shoved them down to sit with all the passengers.

Once they were secured, four pirates remained on guard, while the others left to patrol the rest of the ship. Two of the pirates were on the second level, walking along the cat walks. The other two guards watched the passengers closely, but out of ear shot. All the pirates were armed, with one of them near the ships intercom and one on the cat walks kept a two-way radio close by.

For a long time, the room was quiet. The only sound came from worried parents trying to keep their children quiet and the whimpering of some of the older passengers. The boys inspected them over. They could tell some of the passengers tried fighting but we're obviously outmatched. Angel turned the situation in his head, sizing up the pirates while Dante did his best to eavesdrop on the pirates and identify when they started to let their guard down. Axel for his part just looked bored, while Zero kept shaking his feet to and fro, looking as unpleasant as possible.

"G, your thoughts?" Zero said quietly. His tone mismatched the pained expression on his face entirely.

"It's regrettable, but despite the state of their equipment, they're quite competent. They've kept the crew and passengers separated, and made sure to take any and all plausible weapons." Angel answered, then turned to Dante. "What of you, brother?"

Dante stayed silent for a while, then blinked and stopped staring at the pirates. he turned to his brothers and spoke "Their anger hides their misery. They pace a lot and when they look to us, they sigh, as if they didn't plan to take hostages. They look more like they just lost the lottery, although they're movements are similar to the constant drilling of trained military, but they're highly arrogant."

"Then they're really unlucky this time. It's just their misfortune that we're on this ship too." Axel boasted. "So, you guys ready?"

"I picked my cuffs open a long time ago. I'm good to go." Dante replied.

"Unfortunately, I can't break or lock pick my cuffs. Zero can you get free?" Angel asked.

"No, but I'll manage." Zero shrugged.

"Then it's three on four." Angel stated. "The priority are the two that can call for backup. However, you're still unarmed and they hold the crew hostage. Ideally, we wait for a chance and exploit it but I suppose we have to settle with making a chance ourselves. Can we leave it to you Zero?"

"Fine, but this is going to hurt like hell... Hey!" Zero called towards the nearest pirate, his voice filled with urgency in it. "I need to take a leak!"

"Hold it in." Pirate #1 answered gruffly.

"Can't." Zero shook his head, eyes pleaing desperation. "I've been holding it in for a while already."

"..."

"Come on man! A guys got to go when a guys got to go!"

"Grr... Fine." Pirate #1 growled, then to the pirate next to him. "Come on. Let's get this over with. He tries anything, shoot him."

Pirate #2 nodded. Then walked over to Zero, dragged him up, and shoved him forward. "Get moving."

"Alright, alright! Geeze, just trying to piss man."

With one pirate in front of him, and another pointing his rifle behind him, Zero was marched out through the automatic doors and into the ship's corridor.

 **\- BANG! -**

As soon as the doors slid shut, metal screeched as Axel and Dante leaped upward to the catwalk, with Axel leaving a dent on the floor.

Before the pirates knew it, the two teens were upon them. Dante, still in the air, grabbed his opponents head and slammed his knee on the unfortunate Pirate's face, knocking him out before he even hit the floor. At the same time, Axel slammed an uppercut right into his opponents stomach, sending him flying and shattering his aura as he slammed into the wall.

"Nice punch." Dante commented.

"Shit, did I kill him?" Axel asked with a look of worry.

"Don't know. All I know is that it was a nice punch."

"Oh Oum, please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead..." Axel kept mumbling as he jogged towards his victim.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the corridor, Pirate# 1 led the way with Pirate #2 taking up the rear, and Zero was in the middle. They were only a few steps away from the door when they heard the slamming on the wall. The trio turned around and looked back towards the holding bay doors.

"What the fuck was that?" Pirate#2 said, moving to go back towards the door.

As soon as the gun was no longer directed at him, Zero jumped up, pulling his legs towards his chest, and swung his restrained hands under his legs.

"Hey!" Pirate#1 alerted the other pirate, but that was all he could say as Zero slammed a double backhand strike on his temple, knocking him out.

"Fuck!" Pirate#2 cursed. Immediately turning his rifle back at Zero, intending to shoot him.

Zero, as expected, didn't just stand around and surrender. Unexpectedly however, he stepped forward, grabbed the barrel of the gun, pointed it at his stomach point blank.

Caught surprise, the pirate pulled the trigger. The gun was muffled, but it shot right into Zero's stomach.

"Stupid kid! You just killed yourself!"

Zero's midsection was turned to bloody bits and pieces. To the pirates horror however, Zero smiled as blood poured out his lips like a waterfall. "Did I?"

While the pirate was stunned by his mad smile, Zero tackled the pirate down, locking the gun between them as it harmlessly aimed at the wall. Zero grabbed the pirates neck to keep him down.

The pirate laughed, spending precious air, but also knowing Zero didn't have the strength to hold him down for long. "You're already dead kid. You just don't know it yet."

Zero laughed. It sounded mad and drowned with his blood as he smiled like a deranged bloody maniac.

To the pirates further horror, instead of getting weaker, he found Zero's grip gaining strength as Zero's blood was moving, but not out of his body. The blood that rushed out from his lips began to flow back up and down his throat once more, leaving him with perfect white teeth. The pirate looked down towards Zero's stomach, and he saw the bullets dropping out, and his blood receding back into him. Even Zero's outfit was perfectly new once again, as if he was never shot at all.

"W-what are you!?" The pirate gasped, losing even more of what little air he had.

"I'm Zero Solis. The invincible." Was all the pirate heard, before unconsciousness took him from the lack of air.

"Is your horror show over?" Zero looked up to see Angel, an eyebrow raised, hands free and holding two pairs of cuffs and the key to Zero's.

"Yup, these two are out like a light." Zero raised his cuffed hands, and Angel released him. He got to work cuffing the pirates and carried them back towards the room. Zero glance around the room and saw that Dante was busy releasing the other passengers, while Axel was busy trying to remove a pirate who was embedded comically in the wall.

"That one is still alive, but just barley." Angel answered Zero's curious gaze. "His aura took most of the blow, but it was completely shattered and his stomach is nigh annihilated." Then he nodded towards the downed pirate in one corner of the room away from the hostages. "Place those two with that guy and make sure you take everything that could be used. Weapons, ammunition, keys, plans, radio, dust. Especially the dust."

"Roger, G-Man." Zero gave a two finger salute before doing what he was told.

* * *

 **A/N#2:** Should I just come out and tell you what the Semblance of the brothers are? 2 should be obvious. The other 2? Not so much.

Albeit, I'll be revealing them through dialogue, but they're not necessarily in depth with the limits of it revealed, the boys will reveal them on a strict NEED TO KNOW basis. And trying to reveal it through the story via explaining how it works just seems too bothersome.

I mean, I hate it when I'm reading a fight scene and then all of the sudden, the narrator is explaining to be how a characters gimmicky powers work in a large info dump. That just interrupts the flow of a scene and I suddenly feel like I'm in a classroom, not watching characters fight.

Also, once we get to Beacon, I'll be doing a lot of World Building of Beacon Academy AND the changes in History ala flashbacks. Let me know in the reviews!

02/04/2017 - Edited and reworded quite a lot. Also changed Zero's outfit. If you're curious to what he looks like, look up Hohenheim, the younger version obviously, but he's wearing the older versions clothes.


	4. Chapter 2 Part 2

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY**_

* * *

Angel knelt in the center of the room and took out dust and dust crystals he got from the other pirate and started drawing a glyph pattern he created himself. In most cases, glyphs could be activated by channeling your aura into a glyph pattern that was engraved on a weapon, armor, or accessory. In Angel's case, all his glyphs were on his bow, but as the pirates took it, he'd have to draw them himself using dust as chalk.

He took his time drawing the pattern as it required precision. A single mistake could make the glyph ineffective, turn into a completely different spell, or blow up in his face. His brothers finished releasing the hostages, restrained the pirates and looted them of everything they could use.

"Thanks... You guys are something else." A passenger said to Dante as he released him. He was middle aged man in a suit, with his hair starting to sport gray more than black. "Where did you guys learn to fight like that? One of the academies like Beacon?"

"No, we're just about to enter Beacon... We're homeschooled." Dante shrugged as the man gave him an astonished look, then turned to look at Angel. "Angel, options?"

"Well, we need our weapons first so..." Angel said, not bothered by the distraction just as he made one final stroke to the glyph. Immediately, the glyph activated, bathing the cargo bay in white-blue light. A hologram map of the airship floated above the pattern and hanged eye level to Angel. It was transparent and revealed the ships entire layout, including all its passengers, crew, and the pirates. They glowed in four different colors, red, yellow, green, and white. Next to their cruiser class ship was the smaller destroyer class ship of the pirates. It connected to their airship through a huge hole on their port side.

"Axel, Zero." Angel said aloud, making sure his two siblings heard him. "You two will separate from us and grab your weapons in our room. Dante, you and I will go to the Cafeteria. It seems thats where they took all their loot."

"W-what about us?" The middle aged passenger asked.

"You'll have to stay here." Angel stated. The passengers looked alarmed and were about to protest, but Angel raised his hand to let him continue. "The pirates have patrols going around the ship. It's far too risky to let any of you out of this room." Angel then pointed to the cargo bay doors. "Those doors can withstand a blast from a tank. The pirate's equipment are all shoddy, and old. It's unlikely they have anything strong enough to do that unless they use their ship which is on the port side while this cargo bay is on the starboard."

Angel then pointed to the hologram. "This is where we are now." A mass of green, yellow, and four white lights in the shape of people stood about. It was obviously representing everyone in the cargo bay. "The white lights are my brothers and I. Green are people with no hostile intent, while yellow people are cautious towards us.

Some of the passengers cringed, but Angel didn't mind. He was used to people being wary of him and his brothers. "That leaves people glowing red to be hostile. Namely, the aeronaut pirates. What you people can do is form a defensive wall around the entrance using the crates in the room.

"Have someone keep an eye on the map. It'll stay active for three hours. Next you people need to form a half circle near the door in case of any pirates come looking in. Don't immediately shoot. Wait until they're a bit further away from the door. If they get to close, anyone that grabbed a melee weapon has to charge in. Do any of you understand?" Angel asked. Most people just stared blankly at him, not completely getting what he just said, but some of the more able bodied men nodded their heads and that was good enough.

"Good. We'll leave all the weapons here with you and you can decide who gets the rifles, pistols, and sabers." Angel finished before cleaning his hand of dust.

"What about you kids?" The middle aged man asked.

Angel smiled. "We haven't been kids since we were eight years old. We'll be fine. This isn't our first dangerous situation. Thank you for worrying though. Dante, Zero, are you finished?"

"All the hostages are free, and I've checked the crates. Nothing we could use." Dante confirmed.

"Got all the dust right here." Zero said as he handed over the dust. "Got some more ammo here." Zero then tossed it to the passengers. They fumbled in surprise but managed to catch it. "Hopefully you folks don't have to use it."

"Axel?" Angel turned to his brother.

"Here! I got the guy out, but his mouth is foaming..." Axel said as he gently laid down the last pirate.

"I got him..." Zero knelt down on the pirate and used his semblance. Some color returned to the pirates face, but Zero didn't restore him fully. just enough so he wouldn't die. They then cuffed him like the rest and tied him with the other pirates.

"Right, that's everything. We're good to go." Dante said, then walked towards the door.

"Good luck boys. Be careful." The middle aged man said, holding a rifle close to his chest.

Angel turned to Axel and Zero and was about to instruct them on their route but Zero stopped him.

"No need, G! If we encounter any of them, then we'll be the distraction." Zero smirked confidently, then headed out followed by Axel in the same jovial mood.

Angel scowled. "Idiots. They're lucky there are no pirates going to our room."

"They'll never change..." Dante reassured him by clapping him on his shoulder. "Come on, we should get moving ourselves."

Dante and Angel went down the passageways and up the stairs towards the eating galley. They stopped in each corner and made sure it was clear of any pirates before sneaking their way further. Finally, on just a few corners away from the galley, they encountered their first patrol.

"Two pirates coming this way. Armed like the ones in cargo bay." Dante whispered as he peeked out of his corner

"Do you need help?" Angel questioned.

"No, I'll be fine."

Angel nodded, and immediately Dante used his semblance and flew out of the corner. In the blink of an eye, Dante was already in front of two surprised pirates. Using his momentum, he pivoted vertically in the air and slammed his heel on the first pirate's head. The other pirate reacted by instinct and tried to unsheathed his saber, hoping to catch Dante as he landed. However, Dante was still floating in the air, leaving everything above the pirate's chest wide open for attacks. Dante struck the pirate with a knife had on the neck, knocking him out before he even hit the ground.

"Clear." Dante called to Angel who was already walking towards him. Dante picked up the pirates' sabers and inspected them closely. "Well... They're not Notus & Euros, but they'll do. Need one?"

"No." Angel started picking the pirates' pockets and took their dust. "I have these. Let's not waste anymore time and just leave them here. I'll restrain them with a simple glyph."

Dante nodded, then continued to their destination with Angel following casually behind as he finished binding the two pirates on the floor.

The pair encountered no further interruption and made their way towards the eating galley. Picking a corner near the door, they crouched down with Dante keeping look out and Angel was drawing a glyph on the wall. This time, the glyph he was making was simple and took no longer than a few seconds of careful etching. As he finished, the wall area where the glyph was drawn became a one way window.

The eating galley was made up mostly by long tables, parallel to the large window. Sunlight was peaking across the horizon and bathed. The room in warm yellow colors. The kitchen doors was across the entrance of the room at the other side of the room. In the center of the room was the collected loot the pirates gained. It consisted everything that was of value and could be carried such as laptops, scrolls, gems, credits, and of course, the weapon set of Dante and Angel.

"Three, four... Five. Five pirates. Two of them by the door, while the three are lounging around the room with weapons close by." Angel said before immediately drawing another glyph. "You won't be able to take them out all at once. I'll take care of three around the room. Be ready to engage on my mark."

Dante nodded. "What's the signal going to be?"

"You'll know."

Dante rolled his eyes. He knew what Angel was probably going to use as a signal. They're usually something flashy, attention gaining, and very chaotic. He walked off to the door and took a low stance and bending his knees, ready to kick off the ground and take the pirates by surprise. Cutting weapons such as the cutlass he was using was impossible to use for non lethal take down, as people's aura often just healed the cuts. What everyone normally does is to completely chop off a limp, or attack a very lethal cut across the vitals to make sure their opponents died in seconds.

In Dante's case, he kept his usual blades coated with a non lethal poison, preventing their aura from healing the cuts, especially once he disabled them by slashing their muscles.

But this time, he had to improvise.

 **\- CRACK -**

"Hey, did you hear that?" One the pirates said.

"Hear what?"

"A cracking sou-"

 **CRACK - CRACKLE - CRASH! -**

'That's definitely the signal.' Dante grinned, then kicked off and rammed the door inwards. The middle of the mess hall was in complete frozen chaos. Gnarling tendrils of ice erupted from the wall, blowing away everything in its path and wrapping around the pirates. Three pirates were completely caught in surprise and, save for their heads, were now frozen solid.

"W-what the hell is this?!"

"I-i-i-it's too c-c-c-cold!"

The two pirates by the door gawked, unaware that Dante was between them and poised to strike.

Dante thrust both cutlasses in both pirates. One in the thigh and the other on the shoulder and left both blades sticking out, preventing their aura from healing their bodies. Both pirates screamed in pain, while Dante kicked one pirate on his injured leg, knocking him down. He then twisted to the other pirate who moved to unholster his pistol but was too slow. Dante slammed his fist on the flat side of the impaled cutlass, the pain it caused shocked the pirate enough to crumple to the ground. With both pirates down, he simply moved to knock them out and took the cutlasses, allowing their aura's to take over and start mending their wound.

As soon as he did though, he heard hurried footsteps from across the room, and inside the kitchen. Not losing a beat, Dante dropped his cutlasses, in favor of getting more speed as he flew towards the tendrils of ice where his twin swords lay within the tangled frozen mess. He grabbed his blades but then clicked his tongue in annoyance at finding _Notus_ , his black blade, caught in the ice and was left with _Euros_ , his silver colored blade.

Focusing on the new predicament, Dante fell into a stance as he landed passed the ice. With his sword parallel to the floor and level to his head, a pirate burst through the kitchen doors. The pirate was at least 3 times wider than Dante and a good head taller. He wore nothing on as a shirt, aside from a dirty white apron, and faded brown pants and boots. On his belt however sported all sort of rather deadly looking cooking instruments. In his left hand was a heavy-duty tenderizer while his right hand wielded a bloody cleaver. The Cook, Dante decided to name him, seemed to wide open to attacks, but his senses were screaming danger at the mans aura.

"Looks like some rats crawled out of their hiding place!" The pirate said, but Dante didn't rise to the provocation. Instead, he leaped for an overhead strike. The Cook brought up his tenderizers to block the attack. Dante, anticipating this, used his Semblance, forward flipped in the air and brought the flat side of his sword on the back of the Cook's head. He was surprised however that the Cook had leaned forward and brought his cleaver to his back and parried the attack away.

'A competent fighter?' Dante wondered, 'But why is he posted as a cook?'

The Cook took the initiative with a backhanded horizontal slash with his massive cleaver. Dante ducked the attack and raised his sword horizontally over his head. As he expected, the tenderizer came for an overhead blow. He leaned left and jumped while he pushed his sword right, redirecting the blow. Dante then used his free hand, grabbed the Cook's head and slammed his knee on the Cook's nose. Or at least he tried too.

The Cook leaned his head further in, causing Dante's knee to hit his frontal bone, the sturdier part of his skull. The Cook then dropped his cleaver, grabbed Dante by his leg and flung him through the kitchen doors.

* * *

'Hmph! The boys got skill, but in the end, it's feinting and tricks.'

The Cook thought to himself as he slowly walked to the kitchen doors, assured in his victory due to his semblance. It was exactly the type of semblance that would make one undefeated in combat. Even if his opponent were ten times stronger than him, or had a longer range, he would remain untouchable because of his **[Sense]*** semblance. Even if he closed his eyes, he could _feel_ danger coming towards him in any direction.

In fact, he didn't used to be a cook. It was just that, among all the pirates, his was the only one that cooked anything remotely close to edible. So there he was, a deserter of the army but still following his captain and was stuck being the cook for years! He honestly thought that was a mistake on the captains part as, if he was in the front line of things, they would have more successful pirating and raiding and pillaging rather than be in the sorry mess they were in now!

But ah well! A man mustn't look back. That's what his mom always told him. So now he was going to have to see if the kid was cooked alive, deep fried in his own special dish or just horribly burned.

* * *

As Dante flew through the kitchen doors and between two tables, he noticed was about to crash into a live stove with a boiling pot on it. He stopped himself with his semblance and landed into a stance as he glanced around the kitchen. The room was designed in a modern way. The walls held ovens, fridge, and other kitchen appliances, while preparation, work, and pickup tables were set up in two rows to his left and right. Plates and bowls filled the lower cabinets while utensils were hanging above the tables.

'He's strong and reacts quickly.' Dante thought as he restrategize and formulated a new plan of attack with his new surroundings. 'When the front is too much, one must look for a weakspot and exploit it. Failing that, make one.'

A moment later, the doors burst open and the Cook stepped into the kitchen.

* * *

"Hmph. Odd. I was sure I had thrown you hard enough to hit the stove. Ah well! I'll just chop you to pieces!" The Cook smashed his cleaver and tenderizer together and started charging towards Dante.

Acting quickly, Dante started grabbing plates and threw them at the Cook. The pirate in turn, had to slow his charge into a walk, as he batted, smashed, and chopped the ceramic projectiles away. Chunks of broken glass and dust filled his view but not much else.

"Hahaha! You're gonna have to do bett-"

Before the Cook could finish, Dante grabbed the boiling pot the Cook was likely making(what else was he doing in here?), And threw it at the Cook.

Realization hit him as his cleaver was mid-swing. The Cook also remembered he added his specialty to the concoction. Essence of Burningfire plant.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The Cook screamed, his upper body burning as well as his eyes. His semblance activated. He blocked the projectile thrown at him, expecting it to be plates once more.

 **\- CLANG! -**

The sound of metal hitting metal reverberated in his ear.

Knives.

The kid was now throwing knives. And from what he remembered, there were a lot in the room.

* * *

Dante didn't relent. By this point, he figured the Cook could still sense attacks coming with his eyes shut. Now it was just a question whether he had a blind spot or not. Dante then grabbed an entire drawer filled with knives, and started flinging them at the Cook as he started flying around the kitchen, aiming at every side of the Cook.

Having circled the Cook enough, Dante knew the Cook could sense attacks coming from every direction. Even then, the Cook had taken damage. Here and there, blood stained stainless steel and white tiles as the cook bled from small cuts and nicks, mixing with the dust and fragments of plates and bowls. Even if the Cook could sense attacks coming, he couldn't defend every single knife.

Dante just needed an opening and hit him hard enough to knock him out. Dante could probably kill him, quite easily too. They were in a kitchen after all. A simple Dust leak and he could blow up the whole kitchen out of the sky, but Dante would prefer not having a record with the law once they landed.

Ergo, he was going to have to rub salt into the wounds. Literally.

Dante opened a drawer, grabbed a sack of salt, and flung it at the Cook.

The Cook's scream turned feral as his sense of touch was just overloaded, but the Cook impressively still held his guard, his cleaver at a ready to block.

Dante charged in with a feint. And as he hoped, the Cook mistook his blade as another knife and batted it away, leaving him open as Dante went low, and slashed his calf. The Cook screamed and stumbled to one leg.

Dante wasn't finished however, as he was now behind the Cook and tackled him into a triangle choke hold with his legs, holding his head and the arm opposite of the injured leg. Using his Semblance, Dante pushed the Cook further off balance, towards the injured leg and pinning his other arm under his body as Dante slowly but surely cut off the Cook's air supply.

The Cook struggled, trying twist and turn, flinging his weight around to try and shake off Dante but he held on, pushing the Cook down with his Semblance.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the Cook's body went limp and only then did Dante finally let go and lied down on the floor breathless himself.

"I believe that was the longest fight you've fought. One that you didn't have Zero as your opponent."

Dante tilted his head up to see Angel, standing casually by the door with his bow and quiver on his back while holding Dante's gear.

 **\- Huff -** "The signal- - **huff -** you used- - **huff -** kind of noisy, don't you think?" He wheezed.

"Do you honestly think I didn't _[Silence]_ the room before I even used _[Frost Nova]_? Brother, please." Angel mocked being offended, then helped his brother to stand before handing them his sword, utility belt, and dust gauntlets.

In a few minutes, the duo knocked unconscious the one's still struggling in Angel's ice, melted the ice to avoid their deaths through frostbite, and tied them all together, including the Cook. Once they were sure the lot of them weren't going to cause them trouble, they everything they could use such as dust and card keys, and threw the weapons out the window. The siblings then made their way through the empty corridors and went to meet up their brothers on a deck level just below.

* * *

 **[SEMBLANCE NAME]** \- The given name of the type of semblance in Remnant. The names are more often then not self explanatory. **[Sense]** is as simple as you can get, giving its user a "sixth" sense of any incoming danger.

 _[Skill Name]_ \- A sub name within semblances. Some semblances allow for more varied attacks than others, allowing the users to call these as _[Skills]._

 _[Silence] -_ A bounding field, preventing all sounds from leaving the area.

 _[Frost Nova] -_ A popular skill among glyph users that allows capture of a target. Lethal damage is possible through making the branches sharper and puncturing the targets, but is less used as other glyphs are far more effective at lethal damage.

 _[Window] -_ An Angel Solis original skill. All that humanity sees is light. Allows light to pass through from the other side of an object, turning into a one way window.

 _[Map] -_ An Angel Solis original skill. Using one's aura to send out a pulse through the glyph pattern, the glyph translates the feedback as a 3D hologram map. A glyph semblance user is needed to activate the glyph, but only requires dust and any aura to power it.


	5. Chapter 2 Part 3

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY**_

Not long after they climbed down the stairs, Dante and Angel heard a heavy set of footsteps echoing down the corridor, with the floor shaking in tremors. As the source turned around a corner, it revealed itself to be what looked like a knight in full plate armor with its helm having a scarab motif with a horn sticking out on his forehead and a red plume at the back like a ponytail. It towered over the two and was just a head height away from reaching the ceiling.

"From the lack of alarms sounding off," Angel said smugly, "I'm going to assume that you two didn't encounter any threats."

"Absolutely nothing." Zero's voice came out from the knight. The knight tapped his ear and his faceplate and visor reclined, revealing Zero's face.

"I was even humming _Mission Infeasible_ 's tune too!" Axel said, stepping out from behind Zero. Even if Axel was the broadest among them, and thats counting the enormous sword he carried on his back, Zero's full plate armor was still able to cover him. "Ugh. Why did you two get all the fun?"

"You'll get your chance in the later, but you'll have to be quick. We don't want to endanger the crew and the captain." Angel took out his bow, revolved the two disk, and shot an arrow on the floor. The glyph he used in the holding deck spread out, and another 3D map of the ship came into view. "Now, here's the plan. Axel and I-"

 **\- ALARM - ALARM - ALARM -**

Angel was then cut off as the alarm system started blearing alive. The lights on the ceiling turned off and yellow lights on the floor turned on.

"What's going on?" Zero asked.

 **"Code Black. Repeat, Code Black. Grimm detected in the surrounding area. Threat level Rank-C. All personnel to their stations. Repeat. Grimm detected in the surrounding area. Threat level Rank-C. All personnel to their stations."** A robotic voice came from the ships sound system. As alarms kept sounding off in the background.

All the while, Angel's gaze turned to a wolf that had starved for its entire life and suddenly saw meat for the first time in his life, making even his brothers feel scared.

Angel's lips slowly turned into a wide grin. "We can use this."

* * *

 **\- BRIDGE ROOM -**

 **\- 6:00 AM -**

* * *

The bridge room was bathed in constant flashing yellow light and the sound of the alarm going off mutely in the background. From the inside, the room provided a 180° view of the sunrise outside which was all but useless as it was blocked by flock of Grimm that kept moving and slamming themselves into the ships shield. Six people occupied the room, four of which were pirates, their own pirate captain, and the captain of flight VC 512 , who was bound and gagged to a chair. The pirates manned the necessary stations, such as communication and radar, and were all yelling reports about one thing or another.

"Shield capacity still at 76% and but they wont hold for long!"

"Engines three and four still out of commission from our EMP blast!"

"Capt'n! The Grimm has us surrounded!"

"Shit." The pirate captain cursed as he shoved his way towards the radar console.

The console was to the left of the captain's chair, which he had occupied to oversee everything. The radar console was a more like a computer terminal with a half-sphere glass screen representing their surrounding area. And no matter how he looked at it, they were surrounded by black dots that universally represented Grimm. Worse, the Grimm were all in different size and classes. The pirate captain cursed again and grabbed his radio and contacted his gun grew on the ship.

"Jenson! Get this over bloated rust bucket's guns firing! Use everything they have!"

"We're trying Capt'n!" The crackled reply said, "they're working on the small fries, but it's like we're shooting air at the big ones! The Barracuda has deadlier guns than this."

"Fuck!" The pirate captain cursed then changed the frequency. "Barracuda! Prime the guns and fire as soon as you can!"

"Aye Capt'n!"

The pirate captain grunted, then changed his frequency once more. "Engineering. Report. How long can the shield's last?".

"Awhile Capt'n, if we're lucky. But the engine crew is already scared shitless and the grimm can probably feel it from outside the shields."

The captain sighed. The plan has gone to complete shit. They wanted to raid this ship for supplies, as they got information that Nivage shipped out weapons and ammunition, and they seriously needed it. But when they raided the ship and opened the crates, all they found was a bunch of fruits and vegetables. Hell, there wasn't even anyone important on the damn ship so they could get a big ransom!

 **\- BANG! -**

"What the fuck was that!?" The deafening bang came from the radio. It was accompanied by the stressed screech of metal being bent against its will. Things just kept getting worse and worse.

"I-I don't know Capt'n... Something slammed on the door! Bending it in!"

"Impossible! Those things are reinforced steel! Only a Rank-A grimm would have enough strength to do that!"

 **\- ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR! - BANG! - CRASH! -**

"GET DOWN!" Someone shouted over the loud bang, of which the captain assumed was the aforementioned steel doors being sent flying off its hinges.

"Grimm!"

"Open fire!"

"Watch out! AAAAAAARGH!"

"Someone report! What the hell is going on!?" The pirate captain was now in full panic as the radio was filled with incoherent shouting, shooting, and bestial roaring.

"Grimm! It's the grimm capt'n! NO! GET BACK! AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Engineering? Larson? Larson!?"

"Grrrrr..."

 **\- KZZZRT -**

The pirate captain looked up to the others in the room. One was shifting foot to foot nervously, another was double checking his rifle, but all of them were deathly silent. Grimm had entered the ship. Worse, both pirates and crew were just attacked in the engineering room that had solid reinforced steel doors. Whatever was down there had enough striking power of a tank. The pirate captain stared at the radio for a long moment, then changed the frequency again.

"Raiding team, engineering was just attacked. Arm yourselves and kill the sons of bitches that killed Larson and the others."

 **\- KZZZZZRT-**

"Raiding team, respond!"

 **\- KZZZZZZZRRRRT -**

"W-wasn't the mess hall near the engineering room?" One of the pirates pointed out.

"Fuck!" The pirate captain slammed his fist on the console, then changed the frequency on his radio again.

"Barracuda! Prepare the engines! We're aborting the mission!"

"What!? But we just finished priming the guns captain!"

"I don't care! We've lost both engineering and raiding teams! I don't even know if our patrols are alive! We. Are. Getting. OUT OF HERE!"

"A-Aye Capt-"

 **\- BOOOOM -** At that moment, cold sweat poured down from the pirate captain's back. He knew what was to come next but desperately prayed he was wrong.

"GRIMM!" Came the crackled reply from a different pirate on the radio.

"Shit. Get the Machine Guns!"

"It's not working! It's just shrugging it off!"

"ARRRRGH!"

"BILL, NO!"

"IT WONT DIE! ITS A MONSTER! A MONSTER!"

 **\- ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR! - KZZZZZZZRRRRT -**

Once more, the bridge room was silent as everyone just stared at the radio in the pirate captains hands. He then let it fall and it clattered on the floor as the sound echoed in the room

"Abandon ship. Everyone get to an escape pod."

One the pirates swallowed before he answered. "A... Aye capt'n."

"Captain... What about him?" Another pirate pointed to the other captain who just stared at them wide eyed in fear.

"Leave him. Vale scum deserve nothing else. Everyone ready up!"

The pirates nodded and checked their guns before going out of the bridge. As they exited into the corridor, their breath was caught in their throat and they faltered to a stop. The lights flickered on and off and the corridor had long rents in the wall, it looked like something sharp had been driven into the steel plates and dragged for several times, leaving a sizeable cut in what was easily a foot thick metal wall.

"C-Captain... Help me!" Immediately, the group looked to the end of the corridor on the floor. Another pirate held onto the corner of the wall at the end of the corridor. With all the desperation of a man at the end of his ropes, he begged and sobbed at his captain.

 **\- sob -** "Captain... The monsters... Please..." Then the pirate's entire body jerked as his face morphed into pain as a sickening crunch was heard. "AAAAAAHHHHHH CAPTAIN HELP MEEEEEEEEee..."

The group watched in horror as their fellow pirate was suddenly dragged off around the corner and then quickly followed by silence. They stood stock still... Until they felt a shockwave reverberate along the entire corridor and a long, dark shadow creeped it's way around the corner from where they watched their shipmate get dragged away.

"Back... Everyone get back..." The pirate captain whispered quietly as they reentered the room and locked the door. Thinking quickly, they moved to barricade the door, but everything on the bridge was nailed down to the floor. All the while, they felt the footfalls get stronger and louder as it approached the door. The pirates looked to each other in panic, then looked on to their captain as they were all little more than lost sailors in a raging sea.

The pirate captain, to his credit, unsheathed his saber and stood as defiant as he could in the center of the room. His crew did the same. While the captain exuded a grim defiance to the bitter end, but did it all for his crew as he himself simply felt cold, cold fear gripping his erratic heart.

Then the pirate captain chuckled. In another time, and another life, he would have gave a speech or some such nonsense of honor serving with his men. But he didn't give one. He was not a good man, and most certainly not a hero. It wouldn't have fit his character.

 **\- CRASH -**

All of the sudden, something broke through the window behind them. As the pirates turned, all they saw was a mass of darkness speeding itself towards the bound captain and wrapped itself around him. Still gagged, the captain wailed in horror as mass of darkness swallowed him whole and simply exited through the same broken window it entered.

 **\- CRASH -**

While they were distracted, the bridge doors were split apart by a massive claw and a huge Grimm beast entered into the room. The Grimm was bipedal beast, slightly haunched with large, elongated arms and claws. It had little bone armor besides on its chest and mask on its face that had two horns sprouting forward, ready to impale anything unlucky enough to be caught in its way.

 **\- CRASH -**

Another crash. This time behind them, opposite the door. A Grimm like they've never seen crashed through the roof. This time was more humanoid in shape, but was covered in white bone armor with spikes jutting out on its back and elbows. It was slightly smaller than the other Grimm, but the gleaming red eyes it shined promise pain and suffering and it would not be quick.

One monster in front, and another in the back. Both monsters able to rip through reinforced steel doors and walls. Whatever false bravado the pirate captain was mustering was all truly gone as his hands tremble on the grip of his saber. His pants were now quite warmer than usual but he had not notice this all.

"God help us all..."

The two monsters leapt and preyed on the hapless pirates as they screamed and pissed themselves in abject horror and fear.

* * *

 **\- OUTER DECK -**

* * *

"Ah. Music to my ears." Angel said as he climbed up a hatch and exited on to the outer deck where it was still dark as night with grimm surrounding the ship. He stood at the very heart of the writhing mass of grimm and readied his bow, Glaw. A custom made compound bow where a "U" shape formed above and below the grip. Each shape contained 12 long lines, similar to clock-hand of a watch that revolved in a circle. The hands met in front of the arrow rest, and each contained a glass circle inscribed with a glyph.

"You're the complete opposite of your name, you know that, right?" Axel's voice sounded off from a glyph talisman, another one of Angel's creations with the help of his brother.

"Yeah. When in Remnant did you make a glyph that made us look like grimm? That's just devious." Zero agreed, as the sound of the last pirate getting knocked out could be heard in the background.

"Oh, here and there..."

"Incredibly scary glyph aside," Dante cut in, "I took the captain to the engine room to gather the crew and sweep the ship for any remaining pirates."

"Acknowledge." Angel said simply as he pointed his bow up and knocked an arrow with a yellow dust tip. It gleamed and grew brighter and brighter until it was as bright as the sun. Angel released his hold and the arrow flew out his hands and straight up. It passed harmlessly through the airship shielding and piercing through Grimm like they were made of paper. As it reached its peak, it turned into a large bright glyph, similar to the family crest each Solis bore, lighting the ship like a small sun in the sky, before exploding like a firecracker, shattering into hundreds of streaks of light, raining down on the grimm birds. Some tried to evade, but the streaks turned at angles struck them down as well.

But that hardly deterred the tide. While hundreds of them went down, there were still thousands more.

Until another arrow shot up high over the flock.

The creatures of Grimm screeched and squaked in pain as they were shot down by the hundreds with each arrow.

With each arrow fired, it ate off a large portion of Angel's aura. He could feel each arrow getting harder to pull and his bow turning to heavy for his physique. When Angel pulled back the third arrow, his breath was slowing. By the fifth, he was sweating profusely. By the eight, his breath was laboured. And finally, by the twelfth, he pulled back the last, trembling, dust tipped arrow, focused his gaze, and let loose a final sun into the air. As the last of the grimm were exterminated, the bright rays of dawn finally shined on their lone air ship.

As the light greeted and kissed him on his cheek, Angel's knees buckled as he lost all strength. But as he was about to crash face first on the hard deck, He felt a hand lift him by the armpit while his other had was slung around someone's neck.

"Good job little brother." Dante said as he lifted him up. "Walk it off, walk it off. It'll be bad for your body if you simply stop moving."

Angel simply nodded as he focused on putting one foot after the next and walked their way back towards the bridge, as of now, he was too tired to care about anything.

* * *

 **\- BRIDGE ROOM -**

 **\- 07:00 AM -**

* * *

The two older Solis went down to the Ships Core to retrieve the captain, who was left behind to reassure his crew and ordered half of them to get the ship back in working condition and the other half to help their passengers down in the holding bay. They decided to have them all be kept together in one place to both keep them safe and keep them away while the crew try and fix the ship. Once the captain gave a few more orders to his crew, he went up with the two teenagers back to the Bridge.

As the three of them turned the final corner, the captain saw the door completely wrecked but had expected that since the boys needed to break it in order to get in. What he did not expect was the bridge room to be completely destroyed and in tatters. The two younger Solis just finished tying up the last of the pirates and turned to them, giving them wide grins at their... "accomplishment".

The rooms temperature then started dropping rapidly, a side effect of Angel's anger, which made Dante pulled the captain back with him as he stepped away from Angel.

 **"YOU IDIOTS!"** Angel shouted with newfound energy he didn't know he had. **"YOU DESTROYED BOTH THE NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION CONSOLES! HOW IN REMNANT DO YOU THINK WE GET OURSELVES TO BEACON NOW!?"**

"It's not my fault!" Axel pleaded as he was already kneeling in front of Angel. This was already a familiar scene to the Solis family.

"Oh it so totally was! The radar has huge gash on it see?" Zero blamed, also kneeling down in front of Angel.

"And the radio has a fist sized hole that fits _YOUR_ arm!" Axel countered.

Dante for his part sighed, turned to the captain and asked; "What do you think, captain?"

"Well..." The captain looked around and shrugged, "The damage looks bad, but that's not the actual problem we have. The engine room doors... Er... We're lodged to the major pipes that pumps energy for the thrusters and without that, we can't even move. Now we can't even call for an S.O.S."

"SO IT WAS YOUR FAULT!" Angel pointed at Axel.

"Hey, you're the one that said to use 80℅ of my strength!"

"Both of you shut up, I'm trying to think!" Dante silenced then looked outside on the ships deck, then slowly smiled as an idea formed in his head. "I've got an idea... and I don't think your going to like it."

"Oh no." Angel immediately turned and shaking his head. "None of your plans. The last time you did something alone left a whole airship burning!"

"It was an awesome plan." Axel reminisce, before he was promptly hit by Angel on the head. "Ow!"

"Angel, just trust me. This is a good plan." Dante tried reassuring.

* * *

 **A/N:** Reaching the end of "Chapter 2". Tomorrow will be the last part. However, it might take time for me to finish writing Chapter 3. Like a week or two. The dialogue between the girls and boys feel off each time I write it. Not only that, I'm not exactly sure which topics can be brought up in order for the flow of conversation to be good.

But hey! We'll finally get to Beacon and see the girls!

Also, done some changes to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 part 1. Nothing too major. Just changed Zero's clothing and reworded some sentences to flow better and make more sense.

See you guys tomorrow!


	6. Chapter 2 Part 4

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY**_

* * *

 **\- OUTER DECK -**

 **\- 8:00 AM -**

* * *

"This is a stupid plan." Angel exclaimed as he stood at the brow of the ship with his brothers, waiting for Dante to get back, bow at the ready.

"You kidding? This is an awesome plan!" Axel said excitedly as he twirled a lasso made out of steel cables like it was nothing. Angel just shook his head at the ridiculous idea. If something goes wrong, and with Dante you never know, they might find themselves on a burning airship... for the second time in their life.

Dante had flown out of the airship and went down to the grimm infested lands below, while his brothers went to loot steel cables from the pirates destroyer-class ship with Axel doing most of the work using the stockpiled strength in his Semblance.

"There he is." Zero nodded his chin.

In the distance, rising over a cloud was a windswept Dante... Followed closely by three Rank-D Nevermores.

The Nevermores broke through the clouds, squawking, screeching, and cawing in rage, trying to peck, swallow, scratch, or pin their spear-like feathers at Dante, who kept evading with aerobatic rolls and maneuvers. Even from over 500 yards away, the brothers could see he was enjoying himself and could picture him grinning from ear to ear as he rarely ever had any aerial battles.

One of the Nevermores charged in for a headbutt but Dante it... by flying slightly upwards on its head, turning about face, and then running on its back. He then combined both of his blades together to for a submachine gun, aimed, and fired at another Nevermore, promoting it to retaliate with its feather spears. He dodged that too, causing the attack to hit on the first Nevermore's back, making the two Grimms momentarily turn on each other.

"Woohoo! Go bro!" Axel threw a fist in cheer.

"Don't encourage him!" Angel rebuked, hitting him on the back of his head.

"I think he's had enough anyway. He's heading this way now." Zero said to call their attention. True enough, Dante stopped dodging and began the game of aerial mouse and cats anew, heading straight for the airship.

Angel sighed, reigning in his anger for his brothers reckless behavior and readied himself to put the plan in action. "Alright... To your positions you two."

Axel dropped the steel lasso next to two other cables as he and Zero ran back to middle of the ship to hold their end of the cables. Meanwhile Angel took out three black dust tipped arrows, notched one, and waited for his targets to get in range.

As Dante got closer, he slowed down to further tempt the Grimm and focus solely on him. But this caused Angel's eyes to widen as he spotted what Dante was carrying in one arm. It was a large white egg with red markings all over it.

A grimm egg!

Angel mentally shoved the hundreds of questions that his eldest brother instantly raised, pulled the bowstring back and fired three arrows in quick succession. As the arrows passed glass glyphs, the steel lassos instantly became darker as if they glowed black and followed after their respective arrows.

Dante, in his infinite flying ego, sped towards the lassos and passed through each loop.

"Show off!" Zero yelled, causing Dante to laugh.

As the arrows hit their mark, the lassos coiled around the Nevermores. Whether they noticed either the arrows or their new collars, they gave no indication as they kept chasing Dante, who suddenly stopped, turned around, and displayed the egg in front of its parents. The Nevermores screeched and sped up... Cashing headfirst into the airships forcefield shielding. The grimm squawked in pain and Dante immediately flew behind them to put the final part of the plan in action.

"Come on, birdies! I'm hungry for some omelette du fromage!" Dante said as he shook the egg before them, causing the Nevermores to regain their senses and rage once more.

"It's Omelette au fromage!" Angel yelled, but Dante just ignored him in favor of staying just out of reach of the grimm. The cables began to stretch to their maximum length. Zero activated his armor, giving him a boost in strength as he and Axel held on tight to the cables and secured their feet to the ship, they grunted as they felt the full weight of three Nevermores desperately trying to eat their brother.

With the carrot-on-a-stick-horse-power-on-grimm-induced-steroids, the cruiser-class ship then began to move forward. Axel however had to pull out more strength out of his Semblance and the dust crystals in Zero's dulled, causing him to activate his own Semblance to return them to their full colorful state.

"Anytime now Angel!" Zero yelled.

"A minute! I have questions! Dante-"

"Questions later! Helping now!" Axel yelled, three Nevermores dragging a whole ship was no joke.

"How in Remnant did you find a Nevermore nest? Are all three Nevermores parents? Is the egg-"

 **" "ANGEL!" "**

"Fine!" Angel threw his hands up in frustration, then marched towards his brothers, grumbling all the while. He then took all his black dust tipped arrows and stabbed them in a formation around his brothers. As he finished, a large black glyph spread out from the center, allowing the two younger Solis to attach their end of the cable to the glyph. They sighed in relief as they were able to release their burden with the cables.

"It won't hold." Angel said as he eyed his glyph.

"" What!? "" Axel and Zero panicked, not liking the idea to keep holding to the cables.

"Oh relax." Angel said as he crossed his arms. "Dust tipped arrows like these won't last to power the glyph but the ship's core should. Just grab some wires, tie it around the arrows, and find a power cord long enough that connects to the ships core."

"Right." Axel said and turned to Zero. "You tie the arrows, I'll go tell the engine crew and prepare a long enough power cord."

"Or cords!" Zero yelled as Axel started speeding off. "I doubt that they have one long enough! Just tie cords together for it!" Axel just gave a thumbs up as an acknowledgement.

"How long will it last?" Zero asked Angel.

Angel shrugged. "A few minutes at most. We'll have to rely on you to restore them until they get here."

"The arrows are too far apart. I can't do them all at once. You'll have to tie the wires instead." Zero went to the first few arrows and began using his Semblance to bring them back to their original state.

"But the egg..."

"Angel!"

Angel released a frustrated sign. "Fine..." He really wanted to inspect the Grimm egg more closely. Hopefully, if everything goes smoothly, he would get the chance later on once they landed in Vale.

* * *

 **\- 5 Hours Later -**

 **\- VALE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT -**

 **\- 1:00 PM -**

* * *

Unfortunately for the siblings, things did not go smoothly. In fact, it was everything but smooth. It took 2 hours to get to Vale and it looked like the brothers would just barley make it in time for the Initiates Exam.

However, as soon as they got within range, Vale's air defense shot a salvo of missiles and AA artillery at their airship. Two of the nevermores were instantly incinerated to ashes while the third managed to get free from it's steel collar, and escape with its life, heading towards the Emerald Forest.

Dante, who was still outside the air ships shielding, barley escaped slamming into one of the many missiles thrown at them. He dropped the grimm egg, to Angel's lament, to increase his speed and flew down as he dodged through the entire salvo of bullet hell. He went down to the nearest AA artillery gun that had soldiers stationed on it and told them it was a civilian air craft.

The ship barley escaped with it's shield levels diminished to critical levels, threatening to blow them up and scaring the passengers half to death.

Once the ship was finally able to land at an air dock, Vale's S.W.A.T team raided the ship, and immediately found the crew, who had bound and tied all pirates together. V.C.P.D's finest then asked the crew how they manged to restrain all the pirates and they were told the Solis siblings did the deed.

At which point, three of the four Solis' found themselves again being held at gun point. The police was detaining for apparently doing their job for them, which they really didn't like, and arrested them for vigilantism. When the three of them were escorted to a van for prisoners, despite the crew and passengers protest, they found their eldest brother already taking a nap inside the van.

Angel thought they could resolve this quite easily, if either he or Dante stated that they couldn't hold them for doing a citizen's arrest. Unfortunately, the moment they stepped into V.C.P.D, the four of them were broken up into separate interrogation rooms, leaving them unable to discuss a plan to get all of them out at the same time.

* * *

"... You ready to talk yet, punk?"

Dante opened his eyes to stare at the chief. He was now in a situation he could only name as a "typical drama". He was sitting on a cheap foldable pipe chair, with a plain steel table in front of him. On the other side of the table, was the chief of police, trying to burn a hole through his head.

"Don't you brats just want to go home already? Why don't you just cooperate and get this over with." the chief said with barley hid disdain.

Why wasn't he cooperating? Because the chief hated vigilantism. Heck, that was the entire reason they were being detained in the first place. And because of that, if Dante said anything like Axel nearly killing a guy with one punch, or him throwing dozens of sharp knives at the Cook, could be very, very bad. They could probably make a wild guess, but would have no sufficient proof.

Still, they could probably spin a confession one way or the other. Angel used up his chance to make a phone call and called their mother. Oum knows what she said when she found out they were detained exactly as they arrived on Vale. Could be a world record. _"Fastest Time anyone ever got detained upon arriving Vale."_ It'd be a big hit on the newspapers. Even more if they found out who their father is... Was.

Dante closed his eyes. He didn't like thinking of his father as already dead. But the chances of him being alive was very slim and their mother argued about it for their sake, so they wouldn't get hanged up in the past. He sighed, hoping to catch some more sleep since this didn't look like it would be done any time soon.

"You little shit!" The chief yelled and slammed his palms on the table. "Answer me when I'm speaking to you!"

 _'Ooooh! Scary! He's yelling and banging the table!'_ Dante silently mocked him. The chief could hate his guts, but since he was an official authority figure, he couldn't act violently against him... Probably.

"Why you... I don't know who you've been talking to, but playing dumb with the police isn't going to gain you anything."

'True.' Dante thought. 'Though you don't lose anything either. Just time.' And that was one thing they didn't have. They were already beyond late for their exam and so Dante couldn't give a damn about anything right now.

"Kids these days..." The chief grumbled as Dante simply continued to ignore him.

 **\- Knock - Knock -**

A knock came from the door. Getting curious, Dante opened his eyes. A young detective with bright orange hair with an unlit cigar in his mouth poped his head in and held out a phone. "Chief! Councils on the line wanting to speak with you."

"Damn old men... Probably getting in my way again... And what have I told you about smoking Torchwick!?" The chief grumbled, then yelled at the young detective as he grabbed the scroll.

"Not technically smoking~" Detective Torchwick said then left.

Dante raised a brow at that. Whoever the detective was, he like skirting the border of rules and was intentionally getting on the chiefs nerves. He couldn't help but like the fellow.

"Chief of police, Clark speaking." The chief answered the wireless phone, and turned his back from Dante "Yes, sir... No, sir. I... Yes, sir... Yes, sir. I'll let them know." The chief then turned around Dante with a defeated glare. "You're free to go. You're guarantor's in the lounge."

Then without any further words, the chief left the interrogation room with the door ajar.

* * *

As Dante exited to a hallway he hardly remembered, due to him being half asleep when he arrived in the police station, he met up with his brothers who were also interrogated by other people. Though they just seem bored out of their minds. They were led away to the lounge where all eyes of the room were turned to an extremely HOT woman as she sat cross-legged on the table with her golden eyes resting on them as they entered. She wore a standard Hunters wear, which was gray pants and light brown boots, a beige leather, sleeveless jacket with light-beige details; brown gloves, a sarashi tied around her chest and another around her hips, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. She had belt around her waist, which has multiple brown pouches attached to it.

"Shit. It's dad's ex!" Zero cursed quietly, coming fully awake.

"Axel, you're up." Dante said, pushing his younger brother forward.

"What! Why me!?" Axel panicked.

"You look like father most. Having his eyes, hair style, and muscle build. She'll be more empathetic with you." Angel supplied.

"Wouldn't she just as likely be pissed off because I look like pops!?"

"Then try and woo her!" Zero countered.

"I'm not a replacement stud!"

The Solis brothers knew full well who Cinder Fall was and that she had a very good relationship with their father. Problem was, their mother made quick and decisive moves against a helpless Dust Prism while he was injured and staying at her house, which of course lead to Cinder hating their mother with all her fury. Heck, she almost blew up their entire island in rage when she finally found their father again. The only thing that stopped her was Artem Solis standing right in front of her as he told her that Sofia Dowell was pregnant with his kids, namely the four of them.

Now whether her love for their father or her hate for their mother transfered to them, or if she'll just be neutral is all up in the air.

As they were arguing, Cinder looked up from the magazine and recognition filled her eyes as she caught sight of them. The brother's gulped as the magazine fell, forgotten, and the way she seemed to drink the sight of them in.

Correction, the way she drank the sight of Axel like a smooth glass of liquor made the other brothers step away from any potential ground zero.

Cinder stood up and sauntered over to Axel. "Artem..." She breathed out.

Axel cringed. Wanting to be anywhere but here. "Uhh... Ma'am?"

Cinder blinked tears that-were-never-there away, as if realizing where she was. A small blush went to her cheeks but was quickly hidden away too, before anyone could be sure it was even there. "My apologies. Your mother warned me that you looked like your father but I never imagined the resemblance..." she gave a small smile, but reached up to Axel's cheek. "could be so uncanny." she purred.

All the men in the room gave a small shiver. Axel himself was doing his best to remain calm but ultimately shivered in pleasure as well. Cinder laughed, her voice sweet and unmocking, but also sad and filled with nostalgia. She pulled back her hand and crossed her arms.

"Oh you react the same way as Artem! Teasing you might revive some old habits~" She crossed her arms, and placed a finger to her cheek. "Now let me see if I can get your names right. You're Axel and the one to your left is Zero." She pointed as she named them respectively. "And to your right, is Angel and Dante. Am I correct?"

The boys nodded.

"Good. Then let me-"

 **\- BEEP - BEEP - BEEP -**

Cinder was cut short by an alarm in her pocket. She took out her scroll and glanced at it briefly before turning back to the siblings.

"Looks like it's time. Come along boys, I'll explain things on the way. I had to call in some favors, but they've already cleared your situation with the chief. Right now we're going to have to get to the airshuttle to get to Beacon in time." Cinder then turned to the door and left the police station.

The brothers stared at each other, sighed in relief, then followed after Cinder.

This was it. Their investigation in Vale was now going to begin.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's all she wrote on Chapter 2! Sorry I didn't post this yesterday. I was given responsibility my job, without me knowing I was actually being turned into my responsibility.

As I've said, chapter 3 will take some time, but I think I found inspiration last night and had an idea how to write it, so hopefully I finish it sooner rather than later.

Please do leave a comment or review! I really would appreciate it! See ya guys soon!


	7. Chapter 3 - Abyss and Ward

**_DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCs_**

 **Trails of the Sun**

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **Abyss and Ward**

* * *

 **\- 5 HOURS AGO -**

 **\- 10:00 AM -**

 **\- BEACON: SOUTH LAUNCH PADS -**

* * *

The professors and headmaster of Beacon had just witnessed the launching of the examinees into the Emerald Forest. As the last student faded from their view, they dispersed. Some went under a shade of a tree, some went to sit on some benches and chairs, some simply stood where they were. Such as Ozpin, Glynda, and Cinder. But all of them took out their scrolls and watched the examinees through the hidden cameras set up in the Emerald Forest.

Glynda and Cinder glanced to each other and gave a small nod. It was time to start their plan.

"Ozpin, have you seen the headline for this morning's paper?" Glynda asked as she started tapping on her scroll.

"You mean the airship with the Solis boys? What of it?" Ozpin asked, taking a sip from his mug of coffee.

"Well, the police just reported this." Glynda then swiped on her tablet, allowing another program to start which showed all current reports of the VCPD. She handed the scroll to Ozpin. He looked down on the screen which was reporting that VC512 had just landed with the hostage situation resolved... By four of their missing examinees.

"Hmm..." Ozpin hummed as he stared at the report. Glynda could only guess at what was going on in Ozpin's mind but she had to press on.

"I take it you wouldn't want such talent to be denied from entering Beacon?" she asked, to which he nodded. "Then I'll have someone pick up the boys. However... Headmaster, if I may make a suggestion?"

Ozpin raised a brow. Glynda was a formal woman by nature, so it wasn't odd when she calls him headmaster despite their long friendship. But she rarely ever makes a suggestion due to her large trust in Ozpin. But all the same, he motioned for her to continue.

"The Solis sibings obviously have potential and allowing them to enter into Beacon without taking the Entrance Exam wouldn't be seen as a problem... in consideration to what they just did of course.

"However, everyone taking the exam right now would have a random partner. Meanwhile, these four boys have known each other from the moment they were born. It is not unlikely that they are completely used to fighting together, side by side."

"You're saying they have an unfair advantage over the others?" Ozpin asked, but Glynda shook her head.

"Rather than an advantage, I would call it a disadvantage." Glynda repositioned her glasses. "As Hunters, we must learn to be flexible. To be able to work in cooperation with other Hunters we meet on the field, regardless of rank or skill. Failure to do so could be quite fatal."

"You want the boys to get separated and be partnered with the children there." Ozpin nodded towards the forest.

"Wildly picking just anyone below would be detrimental not only to the boys, but also to whoever gets chosen." Glynda shook her head again. "I suggest we pick one team and have them partnered up with each of the boys, making two teams, each with two Solis' in them. That way, the boys will still have another sibling in the team and they'll also be forced to interact with their partner."

"Hmmm..." Ozpin stared down at the forest as he thought the idea over. "The idea has merit, but the question is... which team?" He asked after some time.

"I was thinking-"

"If I might interrupt and add my own suggestion?" Cinder glanced towards Glynda, who gave her a nod. Ozpin also gave her his attention.

"I was thinking of volunteering Ruby... and her partner." Cinder then flipped her tablet. It showed Weiss Schnee fighting against a group of beowolves. And just as she was about to strike, Ruby Rose appeared in front of Weiss's target, causing her to force her attack to hit a tree, lest she hurt Ruby.

Ozpin looked away from the video and gave Cinder a questioning look.

"I won't bother to try and hide it." Cinder shrugged. "Though I haven't seen her since she was a baby, when I saw her yesterday, she is undoubtedly Raizar's daughter. Is it odd that I want her to be partnered up with one of Artem's son?"

"We can't make a decision simply based on that." Glynda said, trying not to make it obvious that they both wanted this.

"Of course not." Cinder mocked a scoff. "But look at the coordination of these two. While both of them show potential, Weiss is too arrogant, while Ruby is too ignorant.

"Among the examinees, it's these two that can learn most from the Solis'. Meanwhile, the boys will also learn to work with someone that fights with an unorthodox weapon and someone from Atlas's primer combat school."

"And the last two Solis?" Ozpin asked, going along with the idea.

Cinder shrugged, and turned to Glynda. "Were you going to mention someone Glynda?"

"I was, actually." Glynda said, fixing her glasses. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, I was thinking that teaming them up with a faunus would let them have a more varied learning experience. Specifically, someone from Menagerie."

"You mean Miss Belladona? Our sole faunus applicant from Menagerie?" Ozpin drawled.

"Oh my,Glynda! I didn't think you were so devious." Cinder said sickly sweet. "To take care of our little spy problem by shuffling her with the children of her country's savior. They would keep her occupied."

Glynda glared, for real this time. "She is a child! For you to even consider her a spy is-"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. We all know that Menagerie sending out their _"representatives"_ is just an excuse so they could have eyes and ears in each of the combat academies. Just one report that the faunus are being mistreated and the Internet would be up in arms, calling us racist and bigots."

Glynda sighed and massaged her temple. "Why are you so against them? You helped make their city after all."

"Oh, I'm all for Menagerie prospering and having their own power, but sending children to do their dirty work and training them to look for "racism" when there isn't any? I have half a mind to-"

"I believe were straying away from our original point." Ozpin interrupted with a bit of force in his voice.

" " I apologize, headmaster. " " The two said together with a slight bow.

"In any case, I believe that makes four girls." Ozpin said then turned his tablet to face his professors. The camera had just switched to Blake Belladona getting partnered up with Yang Xiao Long. "The reasoning is sound, but we cannot force our students into a team. We can separate the four girls after the exam and ask them directly if they wish to change their partners. If both them and the Solis' wish to partner up then I have no qualms with it."

"Actually headmaster, there is one more thing." Cinder said, gaining Ozpin's attention. "Let me volunteer to pick up the boys. I wish to appraise them myself."

Ozpin nodded, giving her his permission.

"Then if you'll excuse me. I'll go and pick them up now." Cinder said, and made her way towards Beacon's airshuttles that would take her down to Vale.

"I also have to prepare the paperwork and the extra room for the boys, so I'll take my leave as well." Glynda made a slight bow to Ozpin and left as well.

Ozpin watched the two leave. He took a sip on his mug and hummed to himself silently. Eventually, he turned back to watch the Emerald Forest.

* * *

 **\- 03:00 PM -**

 **\- BEACON: SOUTH LAUNCH PADS -**

* * *

Four girls were celebrating on top of a cliff. They had just finished the exam and killed off a Rank-D nevermore that two of them carelessly rode on during the exam. Rank-D grimm took a team of Hunters-in-training or a freshly graduated Hunter, and they just took one down for the Entrance Exam.

Weiss Schnee stood by the side, just watching what she guessed was her new teammates, if the chess piece the two sisters were parading was anything to go by. Ruby Rose was doing a small dance at their success with her sister, Yang Xiao Long. Ruby at the very least was perceptive enough not to drag Weiss along into the dance. She was simply too Oum damned tired. Casting the glyphs she made, at a long distance, one after the other was simply too tiring.

Actually, even if she wasn't tired, she doubted she'd join in their prancing about. Heiresses just don't. Blake Belladona also stood nearby with a happy smile, but was soon pulled in by her partner. She looked aghast as was forced to dance, but her faunus cat tail swaying openly showing how pleased she was said otherwise.

 **\- AHEM -**

A cough interrupted their festivities. The girls turned to see professor Goodwitch watching them with a neutral expression. "I'm sorry to interrupt your celebration girls, however we require your presence at the headmaster's office."

"Are we... in trouble? I mean if it's about the ruins getting destroyed-" Ruby started cautiously but was cut off by Glynda shaking her head.

"Rest assured Ms. Rose, none of you are in trouble. Though in future, you need to be more mindful with collateral damage. Now come along, we don't have much time." Glynda turned around and walked back using South Avenue.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. They turned to follow their professor to Beacon's Central Tower.

* * *

 **\- BEACON: CENTRAL TOWER -**

* * *

Beacon's highest building and center of the whole academy. Central Tower was a large, cylindrical structure that had a mix of Gothic and modern architecture. Made with high-performance reinforced concrete, and supported by eight pillars. Between each pillar was reinforced glass wall that allowed light to enter the interior. Most of the facilities of the tower were held in the upper floors. The tower itself functioned as a clock tower and "beacon" like the academy's name sake. It also contained a sky lounge, the faculty office, the CCT system, and the headmaster's office among other things.

The quintet arrived through the sliding glass doors, passed an empty reception lounge, and entered one of the glass elevator that would take them directly to the headmaster's office.

The glass elevator faced to the west and ran perpendicular to one of the glass walls, allowing an unparalleled view of Beacon's entrance and the warm mid-afternoon view of the city below the cliffs.

"Wow, you can see the whole city from here." Ruby said as she looked through the glass.

"It is quite a luxury." Blake said as she too watched the city fly by beneath them.

"Professor Goodwitch," Weiss turned to Glynda, finding now was a good time to ask questions. "could you tell us why we were called? If I'm correct, we're missing the Team Formation Ceremony."

"Rest assured, Ms. Schnee." Glynda said fixing her glasses. "After this meeting, you'll be in a team one way or another."

"Could we at least know why we've been singled out from the others?" Weiss queried further.

"Yeah, why us?" Yang asked, getting curious as well. Ruby and Blake turned to Glynda, their own interest peaking."

Glynda looked at each girl and sighed. "I can't precisely tell you 'why you' as I'm not privy to that as well. What I can tell you is that it will be a choice that will make a significant change to your stay here in Beacon so I would advise that you think upon it carefully."

Weiss furrowed her brows at that. ' _A choice? What choice could they have that the rest of the examinees didn't?_ ' She thought to herself.

"In any case," Glynda continued. "We've arrived so it's best that I leave the explanation to the headmaster."

 **\- DING -**

Just as she finished speaking, the elevator doors opened and she promptly exited the elevator. The girls followed after her.

To call the office grandiose would be an understatement. The floor was marble with a rose window design. The walls were of the same Gothic theme as the outside, with pointed arcs and intricate pillars design. The ceiling was made of glass with which one could see the great gears of the clock tower turning above them and casting ever moving shadows on the floor. Directly opposite the the door was the headmasters desk. It was a squat Ωshaped table and chair, both with a clock-work-gear design to it, much like the room.

Headmaster Ozpin himself stood beside his great clock-window and peered out to see the whole academy.

He was still much the same as they saw him yesterday. Silver hair, light complexion, sharp features. He wears shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit mainly consists of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt. He also wears black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants.

Ozpin held onto his signature cane with both hands while his mug of coffee sat on the table, it's contents still steaming.

When the girls reached the desk, Glynda motioned for them to stop and stood by Ozpin's side. "Headmaster, the girls are here."

Ozpin nodded to her. He turned around to face the girls and stepped forward. He smiled slightly at them. "Ladies. We apologize for calling you here on such short notice. Congratulations on passing the exam by the way." He began. "I'll get straight to the point, do you want to get new partners?"

The girls blinked. Twice. Did they hear that correctly?

"Um... Sorry headmaster, but I thought i heard you ask us if we wanted new partners." Ruby said scratching her head.

"That is correct." He confirmed.

"Is... Is that allowed?" Weiss asked hopeful, while Ruby's mouth hanged open.

Ozpin shook his head. "Under normal circumstances, no. However, this situation is rather unique. You see, four examinees failed to arrive for the Entrance Exam due to unforeseen developments. As an academy, we are willing to reconsider.

"The problem here is that the four examinees are siblings. Quadruplets to be more accurate. They've known each other for all their life. If we make them a team, we doubt there would be any difficulties.

"For all that, Beacon is still an academy. We value ourselves in teaching a diverse learning experience. As such, we wish for them to be trained in fighting with other Hunters and Huntresses with maximum influence.

"And that is where the four of you come in."

Weiss raised her hand to ask a question, and Ozpin nodded for her to continue.

"With all due respect headmaster, but... why us?" she asked.

"As I've been told, it is actually the four of you that could give the most diverse learning experience to the four of them and vice versa. Of course, we are not forcing you into this. If you wish to form a team with those already present, then you may do so."

While the situation was indeed very unique, most of the girls didn't really have an opinion on the matter. But Weiss was considering it **VERY** much. Among them, she drew the short stick by getting stuck with Ruby. ' _My partner is two years younger and accelerated forward. It would have been impressive if she was selected to enter because of skill or academics. But she just got lucky she fought Red Fang members! I'd end up babysitting her instead of dominating the school!'_ She thought to herself.

"Can we know more about them? Their personalities and the like?" Weiss wanted to say aptitude or skills, but that seemed too eager.

"Why don't we find out ourselves?" Ozpin said vaguely.

 **\- DING -**

The elevator sounded, as it's doors slid open.

The girls turned to face the new comers enter the room. The first to step out was a woman with onyx hair and golden eyes. She was wearing a Huntress gear, which has gray pants and a beige leather jacket. Weiss recognized her as Cinder Fall. One of the professors to take them on a tour around the campus yesterday. As well as giving her odd looks she couldn't really describe.

Following her was four vermilion haired youths. The emblem of the sun identified them as family. While they were obviously quadruplets, each of them was unique to the others, not only in their clothing, but even their height, hair style, and even weapons varied.

When the boys entered, Blake made a silent gasp that Weiss managed to see from the corner of her eye. Blake was staring at the boys. 'Could they be...' she mouthed silently, her ears erect and following the boys. Weiss quirked an eyebrow. Blake obviously knew the boys... or at least, about them. She decided to base her decision if she should get a new partner by watching Blake closely.

"Apologies for the delay, headmaster" Cinder said. She moved to Ozpin's side on the opposite of Glynda. The boys stood next to the girls. While the girls openly stared at the new comers, most of the boys gave a glance or nod in their direction. The tallest one of them was... checking them out. Weiss glared at him. While she didn't exactly feel lecherous intent with it, she didn't like being gawked at. "Dealing with the VCPD was difficult as always." Cinder continued. Weiss then turned her attention back to the conversation.

"Actually Cinder, you're just in time." Ozpin said. Then Cinder leaned closer to whisper. "Headmaster, about the teams..." The others heard, but nothing else.

"... Interesting. What makes you say that?" Ozpin said audibly as Cinder continued to whisper for a while. "Ah... I see. Hmm... Very well, thank you for your council Cinder. "He turned to meet the boys gaze. "It's good to finally meet the four of you. Welcome to Beacon Academy. My name is Ozpin, the headmaster of this academy."

"Good afternoon, headmaster." One of the boys spoke. Compared to the others, he seemed 'average'. He was neither the tallest, nor the shortest. Not the most physically intimidating nor was he flimsy. Just a good 'average' balance to his siblings. He had sweptback-spiky hair and had a pair of black and silver blades on his side. "I am Dante Solis. The eldest of my brothers."

As Dante said his family name, Weiss heard an audible intake of breath from Blake and could see her eyes dilating. Her tail also showed her eagerness. It was obvious Blake had made her decision. She suddenly realized Blake has a very poor poker face, and made the same decision as Blake.

"My name is Angel Solis. The second eldest" The second boy introduced himself and bowed formally. His most dominating feature was his height and eyes. He was the shortest among his brothers and had a slight build. His eyes were dichromatic; one blue, and one green.

"The name's Axel Solis. Please to meet ya!" The third boy declared, with a cheeky grin. He was the broadest among his brothers and carried a huge sword on his back, which made Ruby extremely curious on what it could possibly do.

"And the last is me, Zero Solis. The name's ironic, since I'm the youngest." The last of them, the one that viewing them as... well... girls. His strongest feature was no doubt his height. He also had some delicate, pretty-boy features but one couldn't really say that as he also had a good muscle build. Weiss still didn't like him.

Ozpin nodded to their greeting. "I apologize for dragging you here, but are you aware of your current predicament?"

Angel was the one that nodded. "Professor Fall explained it on the way, headmaster. That my brothers and I could decide to be partnered up with another team."

"That is correct." Ozpin said, "And? Your decision?"

" " " " We gladly agree to the suggestion. " " " " The boys said as one. It was slightly unnerving as they were in perfect sync.

Unfazed however, Ozpin turned to the girls. "And you ladies? It is completely your decision-"

"I would like to change partners." Blake said eagerly, even before Ozpin finished speaking. She turned to Yang who stood beside her. "I apologize Yang. Please don't take it personally."

"Hey, none taken. I'm just surprised you wanted it really badly. Though I can't say I blame ya." Yang said, giving a side long glance to Axel and Zero and purred. Axel blushed, while Zero grinned and gave a wink in reply.

"Is that a yes, Ms. Xiao Long?" Cinder queried.

"Since my paw-rtner here calls it purrlits," Yang joked, nudging Blake but only received a flattened gaze in return. Ruby hid her face in embarrassment at her sisters puns. "I'll change partners too."

Weiss had also raised her hand by then. "I'd also like to change partners."

Ozpin turned to face Ruby. She sighed, not really having a choice. "I'm in as well."

"Very well, then let me introduce you to your new partners and form your teams.

"Angel Solis, your new partner will be Blake Belladona." Angel turned to meet the gaze of the sole cat eared faunus in the room and bowed formally. Blake couldn't help a small giggle escape at Angel's formal ways. She was neither in a dress nor did faunus ladies curtsy, so she returned a bow in faunus fashion by crossing her arms in an 'x' on her chest, and bowed as low as Angel.

"Yang Xiao Long, your new partner will be Zero Solis." Yang turned to Zero. Neither bowed, but Zero gave her a wink. Yang felt a small blush coming but masked it by rolling her eyes but she smiled all the same. _'Well, someone that teases back might be fun'_ she thought.

"The four of you together will form team ABYZ. Led by Angel Solis." Ozpin announced.

"Axel Solis, your new partner will be Ruby Rose." Ruby nervously turned to her new partner and smiled awkwardly. Axel gave her a big cheeky smile that made Ruby breathe out in relief. _'At least he seems friendly enough... Oh! And he's got a huge sword! It looks like it could transform too!'_

"And finally, Dante Solis. Your new partner will be Weiss Schnee." Weiss turned to glance at Dante, regretting the action almost immediately. As she met his gaze, she suddenly felt as if he was peering into her secrets, as if his green eyes could see her _whole_ being. But just before his look could be considered a faux pas, the feeling was gone and he extended his hand out to her. Weiss shook herself out of the invasive feeling she got, convincing herself she was probably just imagining it, and reached out to shake her new partner's offered hand.

But before she could react, Dante bowed, lightly lifted her hand, and touched his lips to her knuckles. The gesture didn't even last a second and it sent her heart fluttering at how unexpected it was, considering the setting. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Schnee." Dante said, smiling at her.

"Likewise." Weiss barely said without rushing. She hope she didn't blush at her own lack of decorum. Her partner's little performance caught her off guard, as everyone she met on Beacon seemed not to have an ounce of etiquette within them. Weiss glanced around. The girls were giving her amused looks, and blushing. Weiss wondered what could have made them blush but turned back to face the headmaster as he continued speaking.

"The four of you together, will form team WARD. Led by Weiss Schnee."

At that, all of Weiss's thought process came to a screeching halt. First she gets to attend Beacon, gaining some freedom from her family. Then gets a new partner that finally gives her the respect she deserves. And now she's made team leader! She couldn't believe it! Things finally started looking up for her!

Ozpin then continued speaking to the newly formed teams. He told them where their rooms were, gave their scrolls access to their doors, the list of all available classes as well as the minimum requirement to pass each term, their handbooks, and the general rules of their mixed-gender dorm.

After which, he dismissed them and the two teams exited via the elevator.

* * *

After they left, Ozpin turned to Cinder. "Are you sure you recommend Weiss as the second team's leader?"

Cinder nodded. "It inflated her ego to be sure. With her background she no doubt has an inherent desire to preside over others. She'll most likely try to be a control freak, forcing her teammates to her will and act exactly as she wishes."

"Wouldn't that make her exactly the worse type of leader? Why choose her then?" Ozpin wondered.

"Simple." Cinder shrugged. "Among the four of their group, she has the most potential to being the better leader. Right now, she's misguided by the illusion of freedom and power. She truly, arrogantly, believes herself to be 'better'. However, it is also true that she strives to do better. To push everyone around her to BE better. We just need to shatter her over inflated ego.

"Having those three as her partners? I've seen Ruby fight myself, and was able to acquire the recordings from the airship. The boys can blow anyone in their year out of the water. They'll blow her confidence to bits."

"Recordings?" Glynda asked. Cinder flashed her a smirk and pulled out a memory card.

"VCPD was being difficult, but I managed to get this from them. It's good to have a reference to base on for the growth of the Solis' stay here in Beacon." Cinder handed it to Ozpin. He took out his scroll and inserted the card. He watched with quiet interest as the boys fought the pirates and blew away all obstacles just like their father.

"And Ms. Schnee's confidence, once it's been 'blown to bits', how do you think she'll recover?" Glynda asked.

"Oh, that's easy. Dante will handle it. After the little stunt of formally greeting Weiss, it's obvious he's still interested in his fiancé."

Glynda frowned. "I thought the two families canceled the arrangement before the two even met. And isn't Ms. Schnee now engaged to someone else?"

"Currently yes. However, when the Schnee's and the Solis' had their 'falling out'," Cinder air quoted. "neither party formally denied the arraignment. Technically, Weiss and Dante are still engaged... I just don't think Weiss realizes she just met her technical-first-fiancé."

Ozpin hummed as his two professors discussed their students love affairs. He simply eyed the recordings. Especially the one with Angel, as his arrows killed grimm after grimm until the warmth of the sun greeted them for a new day.

* * *

 **CHANGES:**

 _Faunus_ \- I made changes to their entire race. I'm also not going to capitalize the name when we spell **humans** with a small ' _h_ '. I didn't like that they were just "humans with 1 animal trait". I like diversity so made them more diverse. Spoiler warning for future chapters but I'd like to note it here all the same. Basically, I took away their Semblance, gave them both ears/horns and their animal tail. As far as I'm concerned, they will only have have mammal traits. No avian/human race as it just feels weird. Maybe reptiles will have a go. **HOWEVER** , in exchange for their Semblance, the entire race can 'transform' so to speak. Not full animal, but transformation gives them the animals special trait enhanced physical attributes. They are definitely way stronger than people with semblance when it comes to physical strength.

 _Ozpin's Office -_ This thing triggers me to the fifth dimension. Most of Beacon has Gothic architecture. It even says so on the wiki. But what's the style in Ozpin's office? **Roman.** It's my inner 3D artist screaming _THAT'S WRONG!_

 _Blake's expressions_ \- If it isn't obvious enough as it is, Blake isn't hiding her identity. I see no reason why her cat traits can't move on their own. Does this mean faunus make poor poker players? Nope. Blake just has zero reason to pay attention to her ears and tail at the moment.

* * *

 **A/N:**

I said two weeks, and it's here two weeks. YAY! This could have been made sooner, but you know. Job and me trying to do 3D art.

I REALLY had trouble writing the dialogue of when RWBY meets Ozpin, Ozpin explains the situation to the girls, Cinder enters with the DAAZ(Daze originally), then the boys introduced themselves to RWBY and vice versa. I've rewritten the whole damn thing five times! And I was already forcing myself to write the scene too!

The problem lay in there was simply too many characters on 'screen'. I needed some to shut up and I picked Weiss to take quasi center stage as we can see her thoughts in third person.

Ugh. I hope I never have to do another scene like that again.

Anyway, I know I said I'd try to keep them in character but... I don't think that's happening xD

There are simply too many changes to the characters past and all of them because of the Solis'. The only ones that remain unaffected are Ruby and Yang's family.

Next chapter is an info dump and team ABYZ and WARD meet JNPR! Should be easier to write this time! Hopefully...


	8. Chapter 4 - Beacon Academy

**_DISCLAIMER: FOLLOW GOD'S PATH OR FEEL TESLA'S WRATH_**

 **Trails of the Sun**

 **CHAPTER 4**

 **Beacon Academy**

* * *

 **\- 04:00 PM -**

 **\- BEACON: CENTRAL TOWER -**

* * *

The newly named teams ABYZ and WARD rode the elevator down from the headmaster's office. As soon as the doors closed, the teams immediately chatted with one another. They each asked basic questions such as where they were from, were they really siblings, where did they learn to fight, and other simple things.

"Really!? You're only 15?" Axel asked his partner in awe.

"Yeah, but I'm nothing special!" Ruby answered in a rush. She really didn't want anyone to think she was the bee's knees. "I mean, headmaster Ozpin just asked if I wanted to come here, and I said yes, and then before I knew it, I'm on an air shuttle on my way to Beacon."

"Even if it was complete luck, that's still pretty awesome!" Axel said. He raised his hand, palm facing towards Ruby. "Highfive!"

Ruby smiled, and slaps her own palm against Axel. Genuinely happy that her partner is quite an easy going guy despite his bulk.

Dante smiled as he watched his younger brother get along considerably well with his partner. Angel and Zero were the same, conversing with their partners and getting along easily. Things were going quite well for his siblings. As for him... He played his hand on being the classy sort when he greeted Weiss, so he'd have to play the gentleman act. At least, for a little while. He glanced to his side to see Weiss Schnee, staring at nothing in particular with a smile on her face.

If Dante didn't know any better, she was simply a happy person and smiled easily. Unfortunately, Weiss was releasing a soft _'kukuku'_ evil giggle and he could see her eyes were gloating in her appointment as the leader of team WARD. No one seemed to notice yet so he figured he should get her out of her trance before anyone does.

"It's unbecoming of a lady to be gloating, lady Schnee." He told her quietly.

Weiss blinked, then blushed as at being called out on her social error. "G-gloating? I wasn't gloating. The light must be making you see things."

Dante chuckled softly. "Of course, my mistake lady Schnee."

Weiss closed her eyes and let out a long breath. Being raised as an elite, and as a Schnee no less, her appearance and decorum mattered very, very much. Furthermore, her partner recognized her as who she was. To be any less was just unbecoming due to her upbringing. Glad that he was willing to ignore her blunder, she looked back to her partner. "Thank you, sir Solis."

"Please, call me Dante. We're partners now after all."

"Then please treat me similarly. You may call me Weiss."

As Weiss finished, Dante released a relieved sigh. In the upper class, unless people gave their express permissions to use their first names, people weren't allowed to be informal with one another. It was a sort of social barrier made by the elite to separate the wheat from the chaff. "I don't know about you, but social etiquette seems a bit excessive from my commoner point of view."

"I'm more surprise you know how to do it." Weiss said, as she leaned against the railings to relax herself. "No one in the academy seems to have an ounce of manners when I got here."

"Our mother taught us." Dante said. "She's the mayor of our island. She'd skin us alive if we ever made her lose face in front of people in high positions."

"Mayor? Doesn't that give a higher position than just 'commoner'? Something like a minor noble?"

"Compared to the Schnee business empire? I might as well just be a filthy peasant." He waved off.

"Point." Weiss said with a smirk. It wasn't as if she was gloating now, but she does appreciate her partner having a sense of humor while acknowledging the difference between them.

The octet continued speaking as the rode the elevator down, and exited the tower. Other students were scattered around the grounds, either taking breaks or exploring the grounds of the academy before classes started making them busy.

"What else did your mother teach you?" Weiss asked, genuinely curious.

"It'd be easier to list the things she _didn't_ teach us. My brothers and I were homeschooled. She couldn't really decide what to teach, so first she taught us things she knew. Physics, math, biology, engineering, politics, a bit of law."

"Wait, I thought your mother was a mayor. I'd understand the law and politics, but engineering?"

Dante shrugged. "Before our grandfather decided to retire from being mayor, mom studied at Atlas and graduated as a research scientist. Whenever she wasn't managing the town, she'd sit the four of us down and just start teaching whatever suited her fancy. How do you decide what you learn in normal school anyway?

"In Atlas, we don't really get to choose but-"

 **"My darling snow flower!"**

Weiss groaned mid-sentence as she came to complete stop. The other girls also stopped and winced when they heard the voice, leaving the boys wondering what the heck was going on. Weiss knew that voice. She hoped she'd never have to hear it ever again after she got launched into the Emerald Forest. ' _'I guess I can't be_ THAT _lucky...'_ Weiss thought bitterly.

"Who's that?" Dante questioned, as he looked towards the source of the voice. A pompous teen was prancing his way towards their group. The teen was clean shaven and had spiky black hair with brown eyes that were almost crimson. He was dressed in eastern aristocratic Mistral robes. They were a type of combat _yukata_ , with the loose openings on his arms and legs tied down by scale-armored bracers. He also donned a cuirass with a roaring dragon-motiff on the front. On top of that was a _kataginu,_ an eastern, wide-shoulder, sleeveless coat, tied down by a scaled sash. On his hip was a modernized katana with a red sheathe.

"My fiance..." Weiss mourned as she palmed her face.

"...Ha?" Dante said dumbly.

"Weiss my love, there you are! I was worried when you weren't announced in the auditorium." The teen said as he ran up to Weiss.

"Well Senji, you can rest easy because here I am with my team. We were simply summoned by the headmaster." Weiss said. While she called him by his first name, she used her formal tone. But it seemed the newly named Senji wasn't taking the hint.

"Why, whatever for?" He asked.

"To meet her new partner." Dante voiced, stepping into the conversation and just a little bit in front of Weiss. "Now if you don't mind, we were having a conversation."

Senji met Dante's eyes and glared. "Who do you think you're talking to, peasant?"

Dante rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and flexed his fist. "I don't know, but I have a feeling I'm about to get a pompous introduction."

"Why you..! I am Senji Kurosame, you fool! Heir to the Kurosame Weapons Company! How's that!? Scared now?"

"Wow! For real!?" Axel suddenly exclaimed and shoved Dante backwards.

"The one and only Senji Kurosame!?" Zero also yelled excitably, joining Axel's side.

"Said to be a prodigy in our generation!?"

"I heard you were a brilliant existence, but the rumors don't do you justice milord!"

"Brother! Hit me! For I must be dreaming!"

"Oh young master! No! Lord Senji! We beg your favor! My brother and I love weapons, however we are but lowly peasants! We have to make do with what we can make with our own hands!" Zero begged, kneeling down before Senji. Axel joined him.

"Hmph!" Senji crossed his arms and looked towards the heavens. "I suppose one must be magnanimous. Come find me another day and I promise you I'll give you a discount to our collection."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you lord Senji! NO! Your majesty!" Zero said, grabbing hold of Senji's coat.

"We are eternally grateful!" Axel said too, grabing the other side of his coat.

"Of course, of course. Now, Weiss my dear! Let us be... Where'd she go?" Senji looked around, finding that she was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, I believe she went that way young master!" Axel said pointing in one direction.

"Oh, good jo-"

"No, no! She must have gone that way!" Zero said, pointing to the oppsite direction.

"Ah, I see. Than-"

"- **AHEM -** , If I may interject, I believe she went this way." Angel joined, pointing to a completely new direction from his siblings.

"Now wait a mom-"

"You guys are all wrong!" Yang shouted, joining in on the siblings. She then pointed to a new direction. "She went that way!"

"Wha- You-! Grr!" Senji stammered before he glared at all of them. "I'll get you back for this someday, you fools!" He turned around swiftly, his coat billowing in the wind as stomped away from their group.

 **" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"** Axel and Zero burst out in laughter.

"I'll get you back for this someday!" Axel mocked, shaking his fist to the sky.

"You fools!" Zero joined, also shaking his fist, before the two of them continued laughing on the floor.

"Way to bring on a classic villain line." Axel said, wiping a tear away.

"Who was that anyway?" Zero asked after he recovered.

"That was Senji." Ruby asked, giggling herself. "He's... Weiss's fiance. He's been giving me the evil eye ever since I blew up Weiss's dust luggage yesterday.

"She doesn't seem to like him though." Blake commented. "... Where are they anyway?" She asked after noticing that both Weiss and Dante were nowhere in sight.

"Brother dragged her off." Angel said. "He signaled us to distract Senji and snuck her away."

Yang laughed. "Ha! Guess Senji needs to worry about an actual rival now."

* * *

 **\- BEACON: ALLEYWAYS -**

* * *

"Hey! where the heck are you taking me?" Weiss said with a bit of anger. She liked her partner, she had a very good first impression of him. But there were limits. Dragging her across alleyways with no one around? Yeah, that about reach her limit.

"Hm? Oh, nowhere. I just didn't like Senji and it was obvious you didn't either, so I thought we could just slip away." Dante answered.

"Then would you let go of my hand now?" Weiss said as she placed her free hand on her hip.

"Oh, right." Dante said, looking surprised he was even holding her hand. He let go and scratched his cheek, looking apologetic. "Sorry about that."

Weiss looked at him flatly. In aristocratic circles, men weren't allowed to hold a lady's hand unless they were engaged, married, given permission to, or the lady was wearing gloves. They were just partners. _'He did look like hadn't realized he was even holding my hand though...'_ Weiss thought. She sighed and let it go. "Nevermind... Let's just get out of this alley." She turned around and led the way.

The alleyway they were in was between two five-story building and was rather dim. The afternoon glow barely reached them. Abandoned boxes, crates, and old arm chairs littered the path they were on. Moss was growing on both the brick walls and floor, making it the path quite slippery. As Dante had half-dragged her here, she had to concentrate all her attention on not slipping, causing her to not have an idea where they were.

As the two walked down the alley, they came to stopped at a four-way intersection with all of them leading to more alleys.

 _'How the heck is that even possible!?'*_ Weiss asked but didn't voice.

"Huh... I don't remember passing here..." Dante said.

Weiss grumbled. "Whatever, let's just pick one. All of them should lead outside on the next corner." She said then turned right.

She kept walking, turned the corner and found herself in front of a dead end.

"Unbelievable!" Weiss said, throwing up her arms in frustration before crossing them in front of her. She had just run out of patience. She turned around and glared at her partner. "I can't believe you got us lost!"

"Hey, relax." Dante said, raising his hands in front of him, trying to calm Weiss down. "We can get outta here easy."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"Simple." Dante said with a smug look that made Weiss want to throttle him. But then he rose up a few inches in the air.

"You can FLY?" Weiss exclaimed.

"Best movement Semblance of the lot!" Dante said proudly, hands on his hip. It was true. Between enhanced jumps, hyper speed, lightweight movement, and wallcrawling, flight was the best movement based Semblance of the basket. "So the way I see it is that we have three ways of getting out of here:

"One." He held up a finger. "I side carry you up. You need to wrap one arm around my neck, while I wrap around your wai-"

"No." Weiss said with a finality.

"Two," Dante's raised two fingers, "I carry you up with my ar-"

"Denied." No way in hell was he _bridal carrying_ her! She never even let Senji so much as wrap his arms around her.

"Then the only way we're getting out of here quickly is if you ride on my back." Dante said patiently, throwing a thumb behind him.

Weiss glared at her partner, but didn't argue. "Fine." She said. It was humid in the alley and she didn't want to take another step on the mossy ground with her high hee- er, combat boots. Dante smirked and rotated in the air. He landed and leaned forward to make it easier for her to climb his back. Weiss pressed her body against it and wrapped her arms around his neck. He then gently took hold of her thighs and secured her in place. She could't help but wonder if he was leading up to this precise situation with the whole _"three ways of getting out of here."_

But before she could wonder about it further, Dante started rising up on the floor. "Alright back there Weiss?" he asked.

Weiss nodded, but she remembered he couldn't see her. "I'm fine. Rather, can we hurry it up?"

"Aye captain!" Dante joked, then kicked his speed up a notch, giving Weiss a queasy feeling but she held it down.

Sunlight glared at them and Weiss had to cover her eyes. She slowly got used to it and viewed the sight in front of her.

"Wow..." Weiss uttered.

"I know, right?" Dante replied. He had risen well over the tall Gothic spires of Beacon. Opening the late-afternoon sky to the duo. The only thing that contended with their view were the the tallest towers. But instead of obstructing their view, the towers casted long shadows on the ground that just enhanced the view of Beacon Academy. Life breathed through the academy as the tree's along the four avenues swayed in the wind, students milling about without a care, and birds tweeting by as they flew passed the duo.

"Sights like these are what make life worth living." Dante said. Weiss couldn't help but agree. They stayed silent for a long while. Simply just floating there in mid-air.

"Hey, I just got an idea!" Dante said after time passed.

"What?" Weiss asked, still just taking in the view.

"Let's go on a tour!"

Weiss furrowed her brows then looked at her partner. "I already went on one yesterday."

"I mean an air tour. I'll do the wal- er, flying, and you just point things out for me."

"And why, pray tell, should I do that when you're the reason we got lost in the first place?" Weiss asked flatly.

"Because you're my partner and also my team leader." Dante started, "And as a leader, you should look after your subordinates and make sure they're up to speed on things. Plus, we get to stare at the view more." He reasoned.

 _'Well... Not like there's anything else to do other than wait for dinner.'_ Weiss thought for a moment. "Fine... But I'm only saying things once so pay attention!"

"Yes, ma'am." Dante answered and would have saluted if his hands were free.

"Fly to the right a bit so we can see the entrance. I'll start from there..."

* * *

Beacon Academy. The premier Combat-Academy in all of Remnant. It was founded on the idea to raise and train Huntsmen. Huntsmen are licensed elite warriors with incredible amounts of aura that allowed their soul to form a Semblance. Students are trained in Beacon to be dedicated in slaying the creatures of grimm and are taught to uphold their duty as peace keepers in Remnant.

However, 20 years ago, the academy went through a reformation.

Due to actions of the hero Dust Prism and his involvement in Mountain Glenn, Beacon Academy had recognized the need of not only training Huntsmen and Huntresses, but training all types of people from every walk of life to help combat the grimm menace.

Instead of training a mere hundred of students to be Huntsmen and Huntresses, Beacon opened it's doors to train soldiers, weaponsmiths, engineers, pilots, doctors, and specialized troop managers.

Due to the influx of new students and professors, Beacon Academy is now made up of four departments. These are the Department of Huntsmen, Department of General Education, Department of Support, and Department of Management.

The Department of Huntsmen is based in the western area of Beacon and the first line of defense in case of the unlikely event that Beacon is attack. The students here are as diverse as the stars in the sky, but they all have one thing in common. They are trained to combat the grimm, no matter what odds they are against. Both humans and faunus can be trained as Huntsmen, despite the latter's lack of a Semblance. Their ability to Limit-Break allows them to be twice as strong and gives them a unique skills depending on their original animal base.

The facilities of the Department of Huntsmen are multiple arenas, an obstacle course, class rooms, emergency clinics, an auditorium, and a library.

The Department of General Education is based in the northern area of Beacon. It is here where regular people are trained to be highly effective combat personnel. People who graduate here are automatically recruited as high ranking officers within any army. While GenEd trains its students in both melee and range combat, they prefer to leave the front line to Huntsmen. Also unlike the Department of Huntsmen, GenEd students are group by units instead of teams of four, allowing for more varied range of usable tactics. Faunus who fail at becoming Huntsmen, but still desire to be in combat against the grimm generally fall into GenEd as well.

Their facilities are shooting yards, sparring areas, an obstacle course, class rooms, emergency clinics, and a reference room.

The Department of Support houses the majority of Beacon's student population, seeing as every other occupation falls into this category other than management. Those who wish to fight against the grimm indrectly attend this department. They are based in a large area of southern Beacon. Their most northern area teaches the doctors. Pilots take the west most. Engineers on the east most, and the weaponsmiths set up shops next to them on the south, lining their workshop along the south avenue.

The facilities of the Department of Support are classrooms, libraries, hangar bays, small weapon factories and forges, workshops, and Beacon's main hospital and emergency room.

And finally, the last department, the Department of Management based in central Beacon. Despite the title of "specialized troop managers", students who graduate here aren't high ranking generals in command of troops. Students here are trained the management of the funds of armies and Huntsmen. The department basically teaches PR, teaching its students how to most effectively show off, maintain a good outlook, and of course, business. After all, even if the whole world is facing a species catastrophe such as the grimm, money still makes the world go around.

The facilities of the Department of Management are limited to classrooms and a library, as they have no use for anything else other than the CCT.

Beacon's Center not only houses the Department of Management however. The grand ballroom, the academy-wide cafeteria, city-wide Huntsmen's lockers, and not to mention the Central Tower, are all based at the heart of Beacon.

The last area of Beacon is the east. This is where the dorms are situated, as well as a civilian shelter. Aside from the night patrol security, and a few faculty that has a room in Central Tower, everyone retires to the dorms when night comes.

* * *

 **\- 06:00 PM -**

 **\- BEACON: CENTER-**

* * *

Weiss let out a breath that tickled Dante's ear as she finished speaking about Beacon. After the first explanation, Dante found that Weiss would explain each department in detail. And so, once she was about explain the second department, Dante decided for them to take a seat on a nearby spire and stretch their legs. Once Weiss finished, they moved on to another spire. On the final area, they decided to make it quick and simply floated mid air.

Weiss shivered and leaned closer into him as chill wind blew past them. "I think that's enough for today." Dante said, turning to face his partner. "Shall we end our tour and get to this cafeteria? I hear every student from every department goes to eat there. Imagine the food fight that takes place there."

Weiss laughed as they started descending. "I wouldn't want to be part of that." She said. "Sounds like it would be a pain."

The two landed, and Weiss got unsteadily off of Dante. Her feet had apparently fallen asleep and she had difficulty just standing. Dante offered his arm to her, and she took it. They started walking and continued conversing with one another as Weiss getting a steadier gait. Before they reached the cafeteria, they unlinked their arms and simply entered the building side by side.

The place was brimming with people occupying rows upon rows of tables. The building itself was three stories tall but only had two floors. Despite the buildings large size, it couldn't hold the sheer number of students and had to set up tables outside as well. There was a total of seven serving stations that were all queued up by young teens.

"D! OVER HERE!" a voiced pierced over the crowd directed at the duo. They turned to see Zero, his height easily making him stand over the crowd. He was waving at them excitably making Dante wonder what could have happened while they were gone.

As the duo approached, they found their two other team mates sitting with team ABYZ and another team Dante wasn't familiar with. However, what caught his attention was a certain green-eyed, red-headed girl that was most certainly _NOT_ one of his quadruplet siblings.

"Look who we found!" Axel said as he stood behind the red head. Zero and Angel also sat beside her.

The girl in question gave him a small embarrassed wave as she seemed to be put on the spot. "Um, hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos."

"Pyrrha. I have a question and it is very important that you answer, got it?" Dante said, leaning down on the across from her. She took note of his serious attitude and nodded. "When were you born?"

"Huh?" Pyrrha said dumbly, caught off guard.

"The date from whence you came into existents into this world, woman."

"Uh... The 8th of Almns, 1352."

"WE HAVE A YOUNGER SISTER!" Axel exclaimed. Dante himself vaulted over the table stood behind Pyrrha. They now formed a quintet of red heads with Pyrrha at the center.

"Sister! We've found you at last! Rest assured that mother always said she wanted a girl!" Dante declared.

"I- Um... I am not sure what to say..."

"Fear not! We, your older brothers are here and will protect you from all harm!" Zero said doing a guts pose.

"T-thank you?"

"If you are ever in need of our aid, just calls us and we'll come as swiftly as we can." Angel said softly, reassuring(read:bewildering) Pyrrha by squeezing her shoulder.

"Uhhh..." Pyrrha tried to speak but could not find what words she could possibly say.

The girls of ABYZ and WARD simply watched and held their laughter, too amused to see their new partners try to get **_the_ ** Pyrrha Nikos to join their antics while her team mates looked at a lost on what to do. They finally took pity on her and decided it was enough. "Alright guys, break it up, break it up. You're putting poor Pyrrha on the spot." Yang said clapping her hands.

The boys chuckled and stepped away from the other red head. They introduced themselves to the poor girl and her team, JNPR. Her teammates were Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and their leader Jaune Arc. The four Solis' then dispersed and went back to their partners.

"We apologize for that, Pyrrha." Angel started, taking his seat next to Blake, Zero, and Yang.

"It's just good to see another red head, and we just felt like welcoming you like family." Dante said, taking his seat next to Weiss and Ruby and Axel.

"Well, I'm pleased that your so friendly. I only hope I can return the favor." Pyrrha said as she recovered.

"So are you guys, like, clones?!" Nora suddenly asked.

"Nora, I don't think clones are possible." Ren said.

"But look at them! They all look alike!" She then turned to Zero. "Are you the original?"

Zero laughed. "Her, I like." He said to everyone.

"Aaanyway..." Jaune started, then looked towards Ruby. "What happened to you guys? We couldn't find you after the exam and we got worried when they didn't announce your names in the ceremony."

"The headmaster called us. Guess why!" Ruby said happily.

"Does it have something to do with my new found siblings?" Pyrrha asked with a raised brow. The boys cackled and asked her for a high five.

"Yep! And he got us new partners!" Ruby almost drooled.

"By new partners, she means Axel's sword." Yang interjected, with Axel's spirits taking a major hit.

"Of course not! I like Axel too..." Ruby drawled, but her eyes were shinning. "But I mean come on! Look at it! It's got three modes! A sword, an axe, and a cannon! A CANNON!"

The duodecim* continued their light banter, even as they went to line up for their food and ate their dinner. The Solis' were asked why they were late for the Entrance Exam and simply told them aeronaut pirates got in the way and had to be dealt with. In return, the girls and JNPR told them about what they missed in the exam. They also found out that the third nevermore that got away from them was most likely killed by Ruby and co. They decided to keep quiet about it than rather than announce they were the cause of their nevermore headache.

As the night continued, all students eventually left the cafeteria and most of them made their way to their dorms to retire for the night. Most of them.

"Hey guys you're lagging behind!" Ruby said as she noticed the Solis' were behind the group. The others also stopped and turned.

Dante however shook his head. "You guys go ahead. I need to show my brothers around since they didn't get to tour earlier."

"It's getting kinda late though. Can't you guys just do that tomorrow?" Yang asked.

"We'll be fine. We won't take long. D's just gonna point things out for us." Zero answered.

"Well... If you boys are sure. Don't take too long." Blake said.

"Of course. We shall see you in the room." Angel answered before the four of them turned around with Dante leading them.

"Think it's really okay?" Ruby asked to her leader.

"They'll be fine. Zero said Dante's only going to point things out so they should be quick. More importantly however..." Weiss said, crossing her arms and giving a grin. "This means we have first pick on our beds!"

"Oh that's right! Yang said before she started running. "Last one there's a rotten egg!"

"Like I'd lose in a race!" Ruby exclaimed then used her Semblance to disappear in a storm of rose petals.

"Hey! Ruby, as your leader I command you to get back here!" Weiss shouted before running off herself. She was gonna have to discipline that dunce.

Blake smiled and shook her head. She turned back to look for the boys but found that they had already disappeared. _'It has to be them... Lord Artem's children... Maybe they can...'_ Blake thought, but shook her head and moved towards the dorms.

* * *

 **\- 09:30 PM -**

 **\- BEACON -**

* * *

The Solis siblings found a bench they could use to sit around. Dante leaned on it from the back, Angel sat on it properly, Axel sat on its railings, and Zero sat on the backrest, his feet resting on the seat. There was nothing particular about the bench. Other than it was out in the open, allowing the brothers to see any potential listeners. There was also the fact that the brothers weren't actually looking at each other, but instead kept watch in four different directions.

"Did you guys receive my email?" Dante asked his siblings.

"Yup, got it in my scroll. It's a pretty detailed map." Zero said taking out his scroll. Angel and Axel did so as well.

"The princess was... quite informative about it."

"I'm sure she was." Axel scoffed, causing Dante to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Now that you've brought her up, brother..." Angel started. "You need to give us an explanation."

"She doesn't know." Dante answered promptly.

"You're certain?" Angel raised a brow.

"I dropped hints both in the elevator and during the time we got 'lost'. She doesn't know about us or our families." Dante confirmed.

"Or maybe she's too stuck up for her to notice. Hell, she might have even forgotten what her family did to our island!" Axel said, his anger rising as he thought about the Schnee heiress. Dante furrowed his brows as he tried to meet Axel's gaze, but he avoided his look.

"What about kitty-cat?" Zero asked.

"She leans towards us quite favorably." Angel was the one that answered. "She could prove useful if the need ever arises."

"I hope not..." Zero said. "She sounds like an honest girl."

"Don't get attached, Zero. Finding our father comes first." Angel rebuked, but Zero just shrugged.

"Whatever..." Dante said, standing up from his position. "It's not important for the moment. For now we split up and search. This is the only time we can use the 'I got lost' excuse so let's make it count. But try not to to be too obvious."

"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Zero asked as he saw Dante glaring at him from his peripheral vision.

"Because you couldn't be sneaky if you tried it." Axel said.

"Well you can't be subtle with that _thing_ on your back either!" Zero countered.

"Focus!" "Stop screwing around you two!"

" " Right. Sorry... " " Axel and Zero said as Angel and Dante berated before they got into a squabble.

* * *

 **CHANGES:**

 _Alleyways -_ The alleyway I described was more or less impossible unless they got an abandoned building surrounded by other buildings enclosed in a wall. However, since this is a story I can just bullshit the setting. XD Bite me.

 _Duodecim_ \- Latin way of saying 12. It also sounds WAAAAAY cooler than dozen, or duodecad.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well, this was easier to write. Especially Dante and Weiss's part. The words just flowed out as I typed the story and I just fixed up wherever seemed off. Still, the story probably has an iffy flow, but I can't see the errors as the sentences are written in a way how my mind reads it. Fast.

It's not as good as it sounds. Often times my mouth tries to keep up with the words in my mind, but just trips over itself.

My mind also auto corrects small errors. So misspellings or oddly formed sentences don't register as my mind just filters it.

Again, not a good thing for writing as I miss the errors.


	9. Chapter 5 - The First Day

**_DISCLAIMER:_** ** _I'm-only-doing-it-cuz-the-top-text-wont-center EDITION_**

* * *

 **IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT**

 **The story is currently under going revisions! The new chapters are at the beginning! Please go back over there! Enjoy~**

 **The story is currently under going revisions! The new chapters are at the beginning! Please go back over there! Enjoy~**

 **The story is currently under going revisions! The new chapters are at the beginning! Please go back over there! Enjoy~**

* * *

 **Trailsls of the Sun**

 **CHAPTER 5**

 **The First Day**

* * *

 **\- 06:00 AM -**

 **\- DORM: WARD's ROOM -**

* * *

Weiss turned the valve and welcomed the warm water showering her from head to toe. She relished in the warmth that drove away the last remnants of sleep and bringing her to full alertness. As the team leader, she made it a point to be the first one to wake up so that she'll be an example to her team.

She soaks her snow white hair and then reaches for her shampoo in the shower stand. Examining the bottle, she tilted her head and furrowed her brows. It was a brand she never even heard of and simply looked so shabby she wouldn't have given it any more than a passing glance. She placed it back and noticed she didn't know half the bottles there(the other half was hers). They hammered the point that she wasn't in her own private shower in the Schnee manor. She was in a dorm room in Beacon.

She smiled. She had escaped her name! Or more specifically, her father!

The Schnee name came with heavy responsibilities and expectations. However she isn't one to shy away from such things. She'd gladly learn all the inner workings of her family company and happily lead her would-be employees to a better and brighter future. No, the main problem was that she had no choice. Nothing in her life was her choice. It was all decided by her father.

Her Alma mater, her combat style, her hobbies, her future career, even her love life for Oum's sake! So in a spite of rebellion, she mastered her weapon and chose to study in Beacon. To get away from the reach of Jacques Schnee.

She sighed as she lathers her milky white skin with soap. Her father didn't make entering Beacon easy. Angered by her decision, he made her fight against the Schnee family guardsmen, her friends in Atlas Academy, and finally, against an automaton.

Fighting against her guardsmen and friends on one-on-one duels were easy. She'd seen how the guardsmen trained and she was the top of her class herself. The fact they fought her without any intent to kill also helped.

No, the difficult part was when her father came up with the absurd final 'test'. Fighting against an experimental automaton that was "possessed" by amalgamated Grimm that had the strength of a mech!

As Weiss was washing her hair, she brushed against the injury she received from the automaton and winced at the ghost of the pain. It no longer hurt physically, but it reminded how her father just walked away from her, even though she turned his infernal test to scrap metal.

She shook her head of the memory. She turned off the shower and made to dry herself. Her father hadn't always been so difficult. Her mother was able to pacify his authoritarian rule, but that was such a long time ago.

Weiss slaps her cheeks as she was getting dressed. _'Snap out of it Weiss! This is no time to have such somber thoughts! You have a team to lead!' She_ thought to herself. She finished adorning her uniform and tied her hair into a side ponytail. She hesitated for a moment in wearing her tiara to clip her hair.

But it was just a moment. She grabbed it and secured it to her hair. She admired herself in front of the mirror, making sure everything was perfectly in place. When she was sure, she turned and moved towards the door back to WARD's bedroom.

The room they had was 20 feet long and 12 feet wide. Despite the rather spacious dimensions, the room was quite cramped as it contained four sets of beds, study tables, and closets. Not to mention their luggage that had yet to be properly put away. The room had a single large window with the four beds aligning parallel to it. The bathroom door lay to one side of the wall, parallel to the beds while the main door was opposite the large window. The girls had taken the beds further away from the bathroom for themselves and the boys had to make due with the beds closer to it. Meaning it was their duty to make sure it was clean.

Weiss stepped out of the bathroom, fully intending to wake her entire team up with a whistle. However, she immediately stopped as she laid eyes on her partner, his back turned to her. He was already awake and sitting by the window's ledge.

Hearing the door open, Dante turned his head and smiled at her. He wore a simple white shirt and red plaid long-shorts. "Well good morning to you milady. You sure took your time in the shower."

"Fu- Ha-" Weiss then bended over, clutching her stomach. Then she couldn't hold it in. "Hahahahahaha!" She laughed with abandon and pointed at her partner. "What is up with your hair!? Hahaha!"

Dante winced and touched his hair that reached down to his eyes. "That bad huh?" He asked. His hair, which he kept swept back all the time, was long enough that his bangs covered both his eyes. Not only that, his hair went into every direction, causing him to look quite frazzled, like he didn't have any sleep for a number of nights.

"Yes, it's that bad, haha. Good morning to you too Dante." Weiss said as she managed to control herself. She then glanced to his bed and noticed he'd already cleaned his area. Not only was there more walking room, compared to everywhere else in the room, his surroundings was neat and tidy, with his luggage already tucked away underneath the bed. Even his combat gear was place in a neat pile on top of his bed.

"I woke up when your alarm went off. You took 30 minutes in the shower, so I had time to clean up." Dante said, noticing she was going over his area.

Weiss nodded in acknowledgement. Her partner then proceeded to float cross-legged, with clothes on his lap towards the bathroom. She stepped aside for him to enter the bathroom and noticed that he was conspicuously slouching forward.

 _'Maybe it's just a case of nature's call in the morning.'_ Weiss thinks and thought no more about it. She turned to her own luggage next to her bed and searched for her whistle. Finding it, she immediately went to stand in-between the beds of Axel and Ruby.

* * *

 **\- FWEEEEEEEEEET! -**

"Whoa!" "Ah!"

 **\- CRASH -**

"Rise and shine you two." Weiss said.

"Wha-?" Axel grogily mumbled as he lifted the pillow that landed on his face. He had fallen out of his bed in a tangled mess with his comforter. His vision adjusted to the light, allowing him to look up to see the Schnee heiress, hands on her hip with a whistle in one hand. To Axel, she looked all too cheery in waking them up.

"What time is it?" Ruby asked from her bed.

"Six thirty." Weiss answered, looking towards Ruby. "And we got class in two and a half hours."

"Then why the heck are we up?" Axel grouched. He was NOT a morning person.

"We've yet to finish unpacking." Weiss said matter of factly. Axel glared but she looked away as she took out a small notebook and opened it to read it. "And then we need to have breakfast, not to mention you haven't filled the class sheet with the subjects you want to take. Now get a move on! We need to stick to the schedule." Weiss said, turning towards her own bed to clean up.

Axel grumbled as he rose, but did as he was told. He was wearing a tank top and the same long-shorts worn by his brother, except that his was dark blue.

The three of them silently went to work. Unpacking their bags and placing their clothes inside vacant closets. Axel was surprised they were hanging posters and paintings on the wall respectively, and the girls were surprised that Axel had brought a gaming console with them. Ruby was excited and went to see their games but Weiss pulled her back and told her to finish unpacking.

Minutes later though...

"This... Isn't going to work." Weiss said as she looked over their work. Axel, loathed to admit it silently, was inclined to agree.

They simply had too much things, though the girls had more things than him and his brother. Aside from the console and clothes, Axel also brought his personal tool box, and even some books. He also knew that Dante brought along his chemistry set, quite a few books, sketch pads. But most of those were still in their luggage! Both girls however brought out a large number of books, clothes, accessories, and extra pillows. Weiss looked like she'd had brought along her entire dresser and Ruby took out a number of tool boxes!

"Maybe we should get rid of the beds... And turn them into bunk beds!" Ruby suggested.

"That's a good idea." Axel said, liking Ruby's suggestion. "The bunk beds back home saved the four of us a lot of space!"

"I don't know... It sounds kind of dangerous." Weiss replied.

"It'll be fine!" Ruby cheered. "Axel could lift the beds easy! Then we can just bind them together." Then she turned to her partner. "What do you think? Can you do it Axel?"

"Of course!" Axel said confidently. He lugs TriPhorus around everywhere. And that thing is an engine stuck with two slabs of reinforced steel! A wooden bed is nothing compared to that.

"Great!" Ruby said as she rushed to her luggage. "Then all we'll need is some rope to tie them together!"

"Rope won't secure them well!" Dante called out from the bathroom. The door opened and he stepped out already dressed in his uniform and hair swept back. "I could hear you guys from the inside. The walls are really thin."

"Do you have any ideas how to make the bunk bed idea work?" Weiss asked.

"Sure." Dante said with a shrug. "We'll need a nail gun, nails, a drill, and connection plates."

"Oh, I've got the nail gun and the drill!" Ruby said as she moved to one of her tool boxes.

Weiss furrowed her brows. "Why DO you have those?"

"Oh... Uh... I like to do the weapon maintenance on Crescent Rose." Ruby said, scratching her cheek. "You never know what you'll need so I got deluxe sets of tool boxes." She then took out the power tools Dante asked for and handed them over.

Dante raised his brow in amusement. "Exactly how many power tools do you have?"

"Hm... I don't know. I lost count after 40."

Dante shook his head but laughed. He then thumbed backwards to Ruby. "Why don't you go on and take the next shower. Axel, I'll need you to stack the beds together."

"Sure thing." Axel said.

"Alrighty, so I'll go and take a shower!" Ruby agreed and entered the bathroom. A second later though she popped her head out. "Oh, and dibs on top bunk!" She said before quickly closing the door shut.

Weiss then looked to Dante. "I suppose you want top bunk too?"

"You kidding?" Dante scoffs. "I get first dibs to the space under the bed. Bottom bunk is where it's at."

"Oh? Then did you always get the bottom bunk?" Weiss asked with an amused smile.

"Well, no. When my Aura got unlocked, my Semblance started activating in the middle of the night and I'd float off the bed." Dante said, causing Weiss to laughed and ask for more details about it.

Axel looked back and forth between his brother and the Schnee heiress. It was obvious to him the two were getting along just fine and Axel didn't like it. ' _Well, I don't like HER'_ He thought,but he just kept his mouth shut. ' _Brother knows what he's doing, even if it means fraternizing with the enemy.'_

The three of them soon went to work on the beds. Dante flew out the window and headed out to find his missing components. Axel lifted his and Ruby's bed and stacked them on top of Dante and Weiss's bed. Weiss... Kept telling Axel to align them properly.

"Little to the left. No, too much! Go back. Little more." Weiss said, directing Axel. As they were left alone, Axel grew more and more irritated as Weiss kept ordering him around and redecorating the whole room.

"Push the bunk beds closer to the window." "I think we should move all the closets to the left." "Could you move the study tables to the other side of the room?" Weiss said, ordering Axel around. in the end, the he ended up lifting everything in the room!

The beds were placed to one wall, the window in between them. Dante and Weiss's bed were the bottom bunks while Axel stacked his and Ruby's bed on top. Then he moved all of the closets to align with the bathroom wall. Weiss even took out a room divider and had Axel set it up for her and Ruby's closets. Finally, she had him move the study tables. They were set up against the wall opposite of the bathroom and along the door to the hallway.

He growled each time she called his name for an order. However, she merely took his growling as grunting when lifting heavy things. He was nearing the limits of his patience just when their window swung open. Dante flew in carry a small bag and a happy grin, gaining the heiress's attention.

"Did you get what you need? And where'd you get them?" Weiss asked.

"Got them from the workshops in South Avenue. Aside from the connection plates, I even got some anchors to secure the bed to the floor."

"They're open already?" Weiss asked as Dante waved Axel over to help him secure the beds.

"Not exactly..." He drawled.

"You broke in!?"

"Of course not." Dante scoffed. "The second floor windows were open and I just... Let myself in. Oh, but I left a note and some credits for them."

Weiss wasn't sure if she should be aghast or impressed, so she settled for shaking her head and crossing her arms. Axel was just glad she wasn't ordering him around anymore.

By the time they were done securing one bed, Ruby finished taking a shower and went to help them. Axel took it as his cue to take a shower and headed for the bathroom. As the door shuts, he took off his clothes and jumped straight into the shower. He turned the valve and gritted his teeth as cold water washed over him. He wanted to reign in his control and take the edge off of his general dislike for the Schnee. As he cleansed himself, he thought back to his childhood. Of when the Schnee family showed their true intentions just when the Solis' needed them most.

Artem Solis, their dad, had just been falsely reported dead and the Solis' needed the Schnee's help to investigate the matter. Axel remembers when their mom and Dante left for Atlas, only to come back sooner than expected, with their mom enraged. Apparently, the formal document that engaged Dante to Weiss also entitled the Schnee's to the lands of Nivage. Their mom would have none of it and just stormed off back home, not even bothering contacting the Schnee family ever again.

But that wasn't enough for the Schnee's apparently.

Soon enough, they started harassing Nivage. They blacklisted their exports with other companies, farm lands started being sabotaged, and armed outsiders started harassing the people. Due to that, the townsfolk soon turned against the Solis family. They demanded they hand over the rights of Nivage to the Schnee's, so they could have their prosperous lives back.

And that was when all hell broke lose.

The resentment, the anger, and all the negative emotions stirred subterranean grimm and attracted them to the surface of Nivage.

Him and his brothers had to rally the townspeople, form a militia and push the grimm back underground. And it wasn't a one time thing. Even now, the grimm back home are likely still active, being held back by the militia he and his brothers trained.

People died. Some of them were even Axel's fault. But it was Dante that turned into a full blown mass murderer. The armed outsiders were feared by everyone in Nivage and they wondered if they would do a violent take over. Dante solved it for everyone by blowing up the outsider's airship by himself.

And he was just 12 years old at that time.

Axel growled and wanted to hit the wall with his fist. He refrained as Dante did mention the walls were thin. With his strength, he could send a whole section of it flying, let alone make a hole in it.

Axel respected his brother. _'He knows what needs to be done. He even took on the fear and dishonor of blowing up an entire airship just to keep us safe. He didn't even let the act turn him into psychopath!'_ Axel thought, believing his brother's actions spoke volumes of his brother's inner strength.

And because Dante was getting along with Schnee, Axel reigned in his control as best he could.

' _But Oum damned, she's not making it easy!'_ Axel finished showering and dried himself off. He got dressed in his uniform and went infront of the mirror to see if he look okay. Satisfied, he exited the bathroom.

"Hey Axel! You're just in time!" Ruby waved at him while holding a power drill. She was on top on the second finished bunk bed, presumably hers as it was on the girl's side of the room.

"Hey, watch it! That thing's still plugged." Dante said, floating next to Ruby as he ducked under the power drill.

"Oops. Sorry, Dante!"

Axel smiled. Ruby's cheery attitude just seemed so contagious that it eased his temper so easily.

"Are you serious!?" Weiss said.

And just as quickly, his mood soured as he turned to the Schnee heiress, who was looking at him with her hands on her hip. "What now?" He groaned at her.

"You're tie isn't on right." She waved him over. "Come here, I'll do it for you."

Axel rolled his eyes and caught Dante giving him a stern look which he could roughly translated as _"Keep it together! Don't lose your cool."_

Regardless of what Axel felt, he walked to the Schnee heiress, who untied his tie and retied it. Tightly.

"There!" Weiss declared with a satisfied smirk. "Now let's get to the cafeteria! We're a little behind schedule and we can just finish cleaning up later." She said as she checked her watch. She then moved to the door and exited the room. "Let's get a move on people!"

Axel groaned. She was really not making it easy to hold himself back.

* * *

 **\- BEACON: CAFETERIA -**

 **\- 08:00 AM -**

* * *

Team WARD met up with ABYZ and was followed closely by JNPR who rushed to get to the cafeteria when they heard the other teams leaving for breakfast.

The walls at the dorm were really thin...

The duodecim were casually eating and chatting about things of great importance; Such as how thin the walls were or how cramped their room was or how they could hear WARD using power tools from two rooms over. Oops.

"Enough about the rooms." Weiss said, trying to change the topic. "We need to discuss about important matters! Such as what classes to take on the class sheet."

Half the table groaned.

The class sheet was a simple slip of paper with the desired classes of each student written down on it. There is a minimum requirement of classes to be met, but no actual limit. The class sheet also required the students to form their schedule for themselves based on the subjects they selected and the professor's availability. The subjects also split into two categories for the Huntsmen department. The compulsory classes and the specialization classes.

The compulsory classes are general things required by all students such as Combat Training, Ranger Training, Dustology, Tactics, Grimmology and the like.

Specialization classes are meant to enhance students in a particular field of study. Some example of the classes are Glyphology, Aerology, Chemistry, Botany, Advance Weaponsmithing and various others. There is even a class meant specifically for the faunuses in order for them to better train their Limit-Break.

"That's no fun~" Nora complained, stabbing her fork into her pancakes. She really didn't want to think about such things first thing in the morning.

"Don't we have until the end of the week to decide which classes we take?" Jaune whined.

"Yeah. This week is just introduction to our teachers and the classes they give." Yang supplied.

"We should definitely wait until we at least see most of the classes." Zero supported.

Seeing the others, Axel and Ruby agreed that they should fill up the class sheet at a later time.

"That is unacceptable." Weiss said, shaking her head. "We need to think about this now. We might end up not being to get the classes we want because they're full." she argued.

"I concur." Angel said. "As much as possible, we should also make a schedule aligned with our teammates. We can at least set a temporary one where we know each other's schedule."

"There's wisdom in that." Pyrrha said for her team. "This way, we can set up team training sessions. They don't seem to emphasize it much on the curriculum."

With the three de-facto leaders in agreement, the other members could only groan as they all filled up their class sheets. Then breakfast was quickly finished and the duodecim only had a few minutes before classes officially begin. However, before WARD left with everyone else, Dante watched with quiet interest as Weiss called her team over to a vacant table.

"Alright everyone, I've seen you fill up your class sheets. Would you mind if I give them a look over?" Weiss asked as her teammates complied.

Weiss looked over three sets of papers and she furrowed her brows at each one. "This won't do." She said.

"...Ha?" Axel responded dumbly.

"What do you mean, Weiss?" Ruby asked tilting her head. "I mean, we meet the requirements and stuff."

"That's exactly what I mean!" Weiss declared. "You only meet the requirements! As team WARD we need to aim higher than the average! To be the best among our entire batch of students!"

Through all this, Dante silently watched, amused. Weiss continued to make a passionate speech about doing their best academically, about being number one and all that. All the while Ruby looked overwhelmed while Axel looked like he was going to bust a nerve.

Oh, he knew that Axel was losing control and Weiss was definitely going full dictator but he just silently watched it all happen for three reasons.

1\. ) He wanted to see just how far Weiss was going to be a control freak.

2\. ) He'd have a far easier time to convince her to stop ordering her team around so much once Axel blows his lid off.

And 3.) He needed Axel to blow his lid off.

 _'Obviously Axel doesn't like Weiss. Probably a bias to what happened in the past, though she had nothing to do with the attacks.'_ Dante thought. He sighed inwardly. _'Well, it'll be easier to explain it to him once he's blown off some steam.'_

So he watched with silent amusement as Weiss "corrected" their class sheet, and created a time table for all three of them in record time. He looked over his new schedule. _'She was at least kind enough to give some "free time"(read:30 minute breaks)'_ He thought sarcastically. She also gave copious amounts of study time as well as classes he had no intention of taking.

Axel looked like he was going to blow then and there, but surprisingly, he stood up, said he needed to "stretch his legs", and walked away in a brisk pace.

"What's up with him?" Weiss asked, her brows furrowing.

"Umm... Weiss, I don't think.. I can cope with this kind of schedule..." Ruby said with a small voice as Weiss whipped her head to her.

"Why not!?"

"I- I was bumped two years ahead and well... I have to actually learn everything of those years while doing catch-up."

Weiss blinked. And seemed to actually be considering it.

 _'Well, I'll be damned. She's not a complete unreasonable dictator after all.'_ Dante mused. _'Better step in this time though, just to alleviate Ruby's worries.'_

"I suggest Ruby takes her original class sheet. After all, she needs to learn two years worth of lessons while also attending classes. She'll probably also need help." Dante told Weiss.

Weiss thought about it for a moment, and nodded. "Alright Ruby, you get to keep your previous class sheet. However, I'll also be checking up on you catching up on my free time."

"It's.. probably best we all take one less class. You know, to pitch in helping Ruby." Dante suggested. _'I'll solve the whole class sheet predicament later.'_ Dante thought. He wasn't actually crazy enough to take the extra classes when he didn't have to. _'She'll reject the whole idea if I mention it now. Have to do it before the week ends though.'_

Weiss sighed, and nodded. "Fine, we'll all help Ruby." She said before turning to Ruby "You hear that Miss Rose. You better try your Damned hardest in studying!"

"Y-yes!"

Dante inwardly sighed. _'Ah well. Theres four whole years to curve her perfectionist attitude along with her dictatorship...'_

When they finished, they headed to their first class and met Axel along the way. His brother had calmed down. More so when Ruby started talking with him again.

* * *

 **\- BEACON: DEPARTMENT OF HUNTSMEN -**

* * *

Beacon's classrooms and lecture halls were designed in a tiered seating. The bottom tier, or in some cases called the arena, is typically where the teacher stands at the focus of the room. Of course, the first tier was sufficiently shielded, just in case the professor's wanted have liberal use of the term 'arena'.

Like all first day of classes, it was rather boring. The professors each took time introducing themselves, talking about their history and achievements and what to expect in the coming classes. Most of the students didn't rank it worth writing down notes for. Most students.

Weiss was not one of them.

Weiss took the down all the prattling of the professors studiously. Even if most of it was most likely embellishing the achievements. Dante too was taking down notes, but for completely different reasons from Weiss and she didn't seem to catch on to that.

What did catch her attention was Ruby and Axel. True to the spirit of every teenager when they know the lesson wasn't going to be important, the two of them were quietly talking with one another.

Weiss glared at them in class, but otherwise kept silent about it. Once the first class was done however, she berated the two out of earshot from the other teams. She told them that it was quite disrespectful and that they should be taking their studies seriously.

In the second class, they seemed to have listen to Weiss and took down notes quietly. That is, until it was lunch time and Weiss asked to look at their notes. She found that they were doodling this whole time. Weiss was, of course, infuriated to which Axel replied, "The first day of classes was a load of baloney anyway and wasn't worth taking down notes."

Which of course set Weiss off.

And so, there was team WARD. Attending the class of Peter Port. With Dante watching Weiss, while she was watching over both Axel and Ruby. The latter of the two seemed resigned to her fate and quietly took notes, even as professor Port talked about complete nonsensical tales of his past deeds. The former was grinding his teeth, with Weiss constantly berating him to take down notes.

"Axel, as your leader, I order you take down notes!" Weiss said quietly.

"Why? It's nothing but nonsense! Are we going to have a test that ask for "What is professor Ports favorite ant to eat in the jungle?"" Axel argued back just as quietly.

"That's not the point! You'll never know when such knowledge could one day be useful!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. I'm sure I'll one day be facing a Rank-B King Taijitu with nothing more than a fork!"

"We're Huntsmen-in-training! Of course will be facing King Taijitu soon enough!"

"I doubt a freaking fork would make a difference! I would have a better chance surviving with my bare hands!"

"Which is precisely why he's telling us HOW to we could survive the situation!"

"Somehow, I doubt the chances of us going through the exact same situation would ever happen!"

 **\- "AHEM!" -**

Professor Port coughed loudly, gaining the attention of the arguing pair. They had failed to notice that their voices had started rising and gathered the attention of the whole room.

"Mr. Solis..." Professor Port said with a stern voice. "I couldn't help but notice that you have quite the low opinion of my use of strategy against the grimm. If it's not too beneath you, perhaps you would like to demonstrate infront of the class how you would combat a Boarbatusk? If you're not too busy with arguing with Ms. Schnee of course."

Weiss threw a triumphant smirked at Axel. A Boarbatusk was a grimm that had had extra sets of eyes and tusk. It was also covered in bone plate armor, making most of its body incredibly tough. Earlier in the class, professor Port also explained how to specifically deal with such a grimm. And it was the only known method that wouldn't endanger the Hunter. If Axel uses it, he'll be forced to admit that the professor's prattli- er... lesson, was NOT a complete waste of time.

Axel however, had an idea of what Weiss was thinking with her 'you're going to prove me right' face. So he gave her a glare but turned to answered the professor. "Of course professor."

"Good. Get your gear and-"

"I don't need my gear professor." Axel said as he stood up and walked down to the arena floor.

The room immediately launched into a murmur frenzy.

"Is he nuts?"

"Hey hey, this is a Boarbatusk we're talking about."

"What's he gonna do? Play Corrida* and say _'el toro'_?"

But Axel ignored them and looked at the professor with a determined look.

"Hmph." Professor Port huffed. "Well if you're sure."

"Hey, wait-" Weiss started, wanting to stand up and stop her teammate at what she was sure was complete suicide. However, Dante stopped her and pulled her arm back down to sit.

Weiss stared at her partner and furrowed her brows. "What are you doing!? You're brother is about to fight a Boarbatusk unarmed!" She might be annoyed at Axel, but she didn't want him dead.

"He'll be fine." Dante waved her worries off. "Rather, you should take this opportunity to understand your teammates better. And learn exactly how dangerous it is to be playing with fire."

"What?" Weiss furrowed her brows in confusion. Axel will be fine fighting a Boarbatusk unarmed? Is he crazy!?

"Oh look, professor Port is opening the gate." Dante said, making Weiss whirl her head to her teammate.

Wearing only his uniform, Axel stood in front of the cage. One leg forward and shoulder apart. Arms raised and ready. And then the Boarbatusk charged out with a fury.

Axel bent his knees, pulled his arm back, and swung.

 **\- BANG! -**

"RHEEEE!?"

With an explosive crack, Axel slammed his fist right on the Boarbatusk forehead, making it squeal in surprise. Axel's fist cracked, pierced, and pulverized the grimm's skull, bone plating and brain matter. His swing had more than enough force to reverse it's momentum, sending its head traveling backwards even as the grimm's rear end traveled forward, crushing it's spine in between.

The whole class was stunned silent. The Boarbatusk looked like it was caught in between two trucks that slammed into each other full force, squashing the grimm like a pancake and ending it's life before it even hit the ground. But there were no trucks. There weren't even any weapons. Just Axel and pure brute strength.

"Holy shit!" Yang said out loud. Everyone other than the siblings were inclined to agree.

"What the heck was that!? Was that his Semblance?" Jaune asked out.

"Nah." Zero answered, one arm supporting his head. He looked utterly bored of the entire spectacle. "If it was his Semblance, the Boarbatusk would be sent flying through the wall."

"Are you serious?" Blake asked.

Axel turned to Weiss with a glare, the grimm brain matter in his had already dissipating into the air. Even if he had just one punched a grimm, he was still feeling mighty infuriated at the heiress.

Then the alarm rang and professor Port seemed to recover himself.

"Oh! Uh! Yes! That will be all then! Class dismissed! Good show Mr. Solis." Port said, seemingly having forgotten about Axel ignoring his entire lecture.

Axel just clicked his tongue. "Tsk." He then turned away from Weiss and stomped his way to the door.

"Why that- that..." Weiss started, but seemed to be having a hard time to pick a word for Axel and what he just did. Brute didn't seem to cover it.

Dante sighed. _'Welp. Got what I wanted.'_ He thought, before turning to his partner and held her shoulder. "Hey." He said, gaining Weiss's attention. "I'll deal with my brother. In the meantime, I need you to think about your teammates feelings alright?"

Then he let go of her shoulder and looked at both Weiss and Ruby. "I'll see you guys at the cafeteria." He nodded towards ABYZ and JNPR and exited through the door to follow after Axel.

"Unbelievable!" Weiss said after some time and threw her arms up into the air. "Axel, I can believe in being rude, but Dante too?" She turned to ask Ruby who seemed like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Well... I don't... I mean..." Ruby stammered as she tried to gather her things and see if she could make a hasty retreat. She didn't like arguing and even less with her team leader.

"- **Ahem** \- I know it's presumptuous of me, but perhaps I could give some insight into whatever transpired with my brothers." The two girls of WARD turned to see Angel and the rest of his team. The two of them completely forgot about team ABYZ was just one tier seating above them.

Weiss nodded. "I would appreciate that. Thank you, Angel."

Angel smiled and turned to his teammates. "You guys go on ahead to the cafeteria. We'll be just behind."

"Yup, sure thing!" Yang said. Knowing a situation she should run away from, she grabbed her sister for a hasty retreat. "Come on Ruby, you're with us!"

Everyone left the room is hurry to get to the cafeteria. It was already six in the evening and most classes had been dismissed. From there, it was easy to assume the cafeteria would once again be over crowded. Angel and Weiss were the last to exit their room though, leisurly taking their time.

"I take it you had a rough first day?" Angel finally asked Weiss once they were walking along the West Avenue. There also wasn't much people left walking the brick path.

"You have no idea." Weiss said then started talking about her day. Angel already had an idea of them turning their beds into bunk beds, but asked her to go further into detail. She told him that Axel was the one carrying the beds and moving most of their furniture. She reasoned that because he had the best ability to do the heavy lifting meant that it was his duty.

Angel raised an eyebrow at it, but refrained from commenting just yet. He simply asked her to continue. And she did.

"Alright... To reiterate, you've been ordering Axel around from the very beginning of the day and even berated him about his tie." Angel asked.

Weiss nodded.

"Then at breakfast you looked over your whole team's class sheets. And when you found them unsatisfactory... You added in subjects you personally thought important, though it was slightly alleviated by Dante for Ruby's sake."

Weiss eyebrows were rising up. If Angel puts it that way...

"And then finally, you nagged your team to take notes. Even going to far as look at their notes during lunch time. And when you found out that they didn't find the professor's introductions worth taking notes, you decided to personally watch them take notes in order to be sure they were actually writing word for word about what the professor's were talking about."

Weiss grimaced. "I- I just thought it would be good for them to get into the habit of taking notes! And besides, it would do some good to have high academic achievements!" She said trying to justify herself.

Angel sighed. "Weiss, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but aren't you being too much of a dictator? You haven't allowed your team to have a say in it and didn't allow them to have a choice in the matter."

Weiss promptly came to a halt and stopped walking. Angel had to turn his head back to face her. He tilted his head, wondering what made her suddenly stop.

 _'Didn't allow them to have a choice.'_ the phrase echoed in Weiss's mind. She hadn't realized she was mimicking her father's nature. She blanched as the realization placed a bad taste in her mouth.

"It seems you've realized it." Angel said quietly.

Weiss hung her head down, but nodded. She was considerably down spirited as the whole reason of escaping to Beacon was to be able to make her own choices. And here she was depriving her team of theirs. What a hypocrite she turned out to be.

"Weiss, your desire to improve your whole teams academics is no doubt admirable." Angel started, causing Weiss to peak up at her fellow team leader. "It's just that you were overzealous about it. You could simply apologize to them and I'm sure it will be nothing more than water under the bridge."

"You think it's that easy?" Weiss asked.

"Of course." Angel said and approached Weiss and gently lifted her head by her chin. "Chin up, Weiss. A beautiful girl such as yourself shouldn't be so down spirited."

Weiss blushed. "Wha- What are you saying!?" She said and averted her eyes. She didn't take a step back though.

Angel chuckled, and drew back his hand. "That's better. A leader needs to have such spirit no matter the challenge, correct?"

Weiss tried to control her beating heart. Senji always called her beautiful so she should be used to it, and yet here was Angel, sending her heart racing at such a small gesture. She could still feel her heart beating but took her courage and met Angel's gaze. "So... What do you think I should do? After apologizing I mean."

"Ah, that's simple." Angel said as he walked to her side. "You should take your time and get to know your teammates personality. I could help you with that. Especially with my brothers." He said with an easy smile and offered his hand.

Weiss nodded. "I would like that. Thank you Angel." She said as she linked her arms with him.

* * *

 **\- BEACON -**

 **\- 06:00 PM -**

* * *

Dante didn't have a hard time following after Axel. He just asked anyone around if they saw someone who looked like they were on a war path and they'd point him to the scariest bastard they'd ever seen. And an angry Axel just so happened to fit that description.

As soon as he got outside of their building, Dante used his Semblance. Some of the crowd exclaimed in surprise as he glided over them, but it made catching up to his brother easy. He quickly found Axel being given a wide breadth by the people around him and descended next to him.

"Come to scold me?" Axel asked.

"Nah." Dante said, waving the question away. "Just asking for a spar before dinner. Let's head to the Basement."

"Hmph." Axel harrumphed.

The Basement was something Zero found last night. It was inside a building that was built on the Northeastern part of the Academy. Between the dorms and the Huntsmen department. The building itself was more or less turned into a large storage room. It had fallen to disuse when the Academy started expanding the departments. Due to other buildings cropping up around it, it was now easily missable.

However, the brothers weren't satisfied with using the rooms that still occasionally saw people, even if it was just the custodians. So Zero explored the building. He found the door that led down to the Basement at the end of a hallway that was hidden behind various crates.

The Basement itself was quite large and could qualify as a parking garage for several cars. It was hidden, tucked away, and Angel could easily soundproof the walls. The perfect training area for the boys as they liked to train without any eyes on them.

The brothers arrived and immediately took off their tops, shoes, and socks. Their sparring sessions would easily make them sweat. Not to mention they had yet to fix the ventilation so the room was already quite humid.

They gave themselves some distance and took their family stance. Identical to each other, yet also different. Both had one leg forward and shoulder width apart. Both raised their arms similar to boxing. But Dante had one fist forward at chest level and the other under his chin, while his back was slightly bent forward. Axel had both his hands raised up, fist to eye level and back straight.

"Fu-" Axel let out a breath as struck first, closing the distance between them in an instant.

Dante gritted his teeth as he dodged. He could feel the heavy wind pressure from Axel's strike even through his aura, meaning his brother activated his Semblance. It would not be pretty if he got hit even once.

"That damned heiress!" Axel yelled as he kept swinging fist after fist. He delivered a low sweeping kick which Dante jumped over.

"Thinks she knows everything! Thinks she's so damned perfect!" Dante dodged through a series of hooks and uppercuts. Axel then tried to grab his brother's hands for a grapple hold, but Dante kept countering it by slamming his fist on Axel's forearms and pulling his hand away.

"She's nothing but a sheltered brat! A mini tyrant!" He brought both his fist downwards and Dante jumped back, creating a crater on the floor. They'll have to ask Zero if he could fix that later.

"A selfish," Axel started a rising side kick. There was quite a bit of wind pressure even as Dante ducked underneath it.

"demanding," Axel spun for a backhand, Dante had to bend backwards to avoid the blow. He overextended. Going along with the momentum, he went for a kicking backflip but missed Axel.

"conceited princess!" Axel went for a powerful straight punch with his other hand and aimed downwards as his brother had yet to land with his feet from the back flip. However Dante used his Semblance, floated upwards, and pushed the punch to hit the floor. Still using his Semblance, he then started his own counter attack on Axel upside-down.

"How do you even put up with her!?" Axel asked as he readied himself for his brother's unorthodox combat specialty. He tried to counter against the strikes as best he could. He tried to ignore the origin of the blows and merely treated all the upside-down attacks as normal attacks. It didn't mean he was good at it though, even as he ducked under an upside-down low sweeping kick, Dodge an uppercut and blocked it as it turned into a corkscrew punch.

"You've been angry at her even before she started giving orders as the team leader." Dante pointed out as he did a flying kick which Axel blocked with both hands. "Are you blaming her for what happened to us?" He asked as he pulled his leading leg back, causing Axel to miss at his attempt for a grapple hold. Dante then brought in his other leg for a knee kick. Axel ducked, but he was nicked at the tip of his skull but was no worse for wear.

"She had nothing to do with it you know?" Dante dodged to the side, orienting him right side up, just as Axel moved for a rising upper cut and was left hanging in the air. "She was a child, just like we were." Dante rushed in for a feint and Axel countered with a hook. Pulling back his feint, Dante swept his feet on his brother's legs, causing Axel to land on his back.

Axel realized his predicament, and rolled away just in time as Dante stomped on the floor where he had just been. Axel immediately got back up from his roll and continued the exchange of blows. Axel's anger then began to chip away. He started to look back between the interactions between Dante and Weiss, and added that to how Dante was defending her now . "You don't actually like her do you?" He asked in a small lull in the spar.

His brother said nothing. Just resumed his offense. The intensity increasing even. And Axel quickly picked up on that. "By the Maker, you do like her!"

That was all he got to say as Dante's speed spiked and delivered a knife-handed thrust to Axel's throat, cutting off his air supply and making him choke.

"- HURK - HACK - COUGH -" Axel grabbed his throat and sank to his knees. Their sparring ended with that and his brother stood in front of him, saying nothing. Neither denying or affirming Axel's accusation. " - COUGH - COUGH - ...why?" He managed to ask, looking up to his brother.

Dante shrugged. "She's cute?"

Axel looked at him like he wanted to spit blood.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not in love with her. Despite our engagement, which I doubt she even remembers about, I just think it's worth trying to actually get to know her. She's clumsy and misguided about being appointed team leader, but she does strive to do her best." Dante then offered his hand to Axel. "She just doesn't know how to lead properly and I think we should just give her a chance to learn."

Axel looked down to the floor as he thought about it. _'It was kind of stupid to blame her for what happened to the town...'_ He fell silent for a while then raised his head to meet his brother's gaze. "Is she a good person?" He finally asked.

"Yes." Dante answered without any hesitation. "A little rough around the edges, but yes."

Axel grumbled, but nodded. _'Well... I should at least give her a chance.'_ He thought and took Dante's offered hand. He got up with Dante's help and they then wordlessly went to their clothes. They wiped off their sweat, redressed themselves into their uniforms and made their way to join their other teammates.

* * *

 **\- BEACON: CAFETERIA -**

 **\- 07:00 PM -**

* * *

"Oh! There they are! Axel! Dante! Over here!" Ruby called out. She stood and waved the two over with the other teams.

"Remember to apologize." Dante said quietly to Axel.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Yes, mom." Causing Dante to strike him on his shoulder. As the two of them neared, they noticed their friends were already mostly done with their dinner and that Weiss and Ruby sat on the opposite side from them. Axel didn't hesitate, He stepped and bowed in front of Weiss. "I'm sorry about what happened in class. I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

Weiss, for her part, looked wide eyed in surprise. She was sure she was the one at fault. She already apologized and made up with Ruby before the boys arrived. "I should be the one saying sorry." Weiss said. "Stop standing like that you two! You'll cause a scene so sit down!" She said in a hurry. Then she realized she got mad again. As the two Solis sat, she sighed and apologized again. "Sorry. I know I'm being difficult. I didn't realize I was being so pushy about everything. I swear I'll ask for your opinions from now on."

"Does that mean we don't have to take those extra classes you signed us up for?" Dante joked as he sat in front of Weiss.

"Well... yes. But I still want you guys to be doing your best on your classes! You better not slack off!" Weiss affirmed.

"Alright! WARD survived the first day of Beacon as a whole team!" Ruby declared, causing the others to laugh.

"Hey. Loser's punishment." Dante said, hitting Axel on the shoulders lightly. "Go get us some food."

Axel groaned. _'Man, I forgot we had those rules.'_ He thought as he got up and went to grab his and Dante's dinner.

"What do you mean loser's punishment?" Weiss asked.

"We sparred. He lost." Dante said, then proceeded to take Weiss's uneaten cup of chocolate mousse.

"Hey!" She yelled.

"You can take mine once Axel comes back." Dante said as he started eating the dessert. "I just really need the sugar as my aura took a beating."

"I'm surprised you didn't come back in a stretcher." Weiss said. "The way that Boarbatusk died... Well, I was sure his punches break bones."

"They do. But it was the wind pressure from his fist that was damaging my aura." Dante said, causing Weiss to wince at the though of what would happen if you ever got hit by an angry Axel. "Putting our spar aside though," Dante continued, "I'm surprised you reflected so much. I was sure we'd come back here with you still mad about just stepping out on you like that."

"Y-yes. I've took it up upon myself to reflect on my actions." Weiss said with a blush. Her reaction caused Dante to raise a brow.

"Yeah right, Weiss." Ruby scoffed and turned to Dante. "Angel stayed behind with her and they came in holding hands. I'm pretty sure he talked some sense into her by then."

"W-We did not hold hands!" Weiss said, turning even redder. "We were just linking arms! It's perfectly acceptable for a gentleman to be walking a lady while linking arms!"

"Oh, you don't have to be embarrassed about being wrong Weiss!" Ruby said with a pure smile. "You already admitted you were wrong anyway, so you don't have to deny Angel corrected you after class, right?"

Weiss furrowed her brows at what Ruby was talking about. Then she realized Ruby was teasing her about Angel rectifying her about being a dictator, and not for holding hands! She groaned and hid her face behind her hands. "Ruby Rose, I swear!"

"I... see." Dante drawled as he looked at the two, then turned to Angel who sat nearby. "It seems I have you to thank, little brother."

"Of course brother." Angel said with a smile. "We're friends with team WARD so it's natural for us to help each other out, right?"

Everyone nodded to that. Even Weiss nodded enthusiastically as she put her hands down. Zero however, paused just as he was bringing food to his mouth. He picked up on the subtle notes of Dante being annoyed as he looked towards his second brother. Angel too, was giving looks of challenge to his eldest brother. Sparks were flying between the two as they gaze into each others eye but no one seemed to notice.

"Dante, here's your food!" Axel said, finally arriving. Causing Dante to look away less he makes a scene.

"Thank you, little brother." Dante said, causing Axel to stiffen. He knew when his brother used a formal speech he was either acting or annoyed. He looked towards Zero who still was mid bite. _'Trouble?'_ He asked nonverbally.

Zero nodded, _'Trouble.'_

* * *

 **Extra:**

 **\- BEEP - BEEP - BEEP -**

Dante woke at the sound of an alarm. _'Who's alarm is that? I don't recognize it.'_ He thought as he opened his eyes. Out of his peripheral vision though, Weiss sat up and stretched her arm upward. Dante turned to look at her which was a bad idea. Though the lighting was dim, Dante could clearly see Weiss's slim body through her night gown. The way her back arched, the soft, yet lovely accents on her chest, and the way her white hair glowed in the dark made her seem to have an otherworldly beauty that left Dante in a trance.

She rose from her bed and went to her luggage and bent down. The hem of her gown was really short which left a clear view for Dante. _'White'_ Dante thought dumbly.

Weiss then made her way to the bathroom sleepily. Dante noted she didn't seem to realize her hips swayed even as she walked. _'Uuuuooohhhh! Dante, what the hell are you doing!?'_ He screamed internally.

As the bathroom doors closed with a click, he rose up to a sitting position. He never felt so erect before. _'Holy shit, control yourself! Come on! Think of something else! Think of ingredients! Night's Bane, Snow lilies, Lion's paw, Rosebuds.'_ His mind then pictured Weiss's soft lumps. _'OUM DAMMIT!'_

Dante got up from his bed and started pacing. _'Got to get my mind out of the gutter!'_ He thought. Then he turned to his bed decided to clean it. He fluffed his pillow and dusted his blanket. _'It's so white... like Weiss's- FUUUUUUUUUUUU-'_

Dante grabbed his head and wanted to bang it against the wall, but that would just wake everyone in the room. Then looked around and found his luggage that he had yet to put away. _'Right, right. Stop thinking about Weiss.'_ He thought and started putting his clothes into his closet. He did them neatly and was concentrating. _'Hmm... I don't remember this shirt. It's kind of big too...'_ He thought but still folded it to place it away. _'I wonder how it would look on Weiss if she was wearing only my shir- DAMN IT ME! STOP!'_

He finished placing his clothes away and grabbed his uniform, but he still couldn't get Weiss off his mind.

 _'Didn't she ride on your back yesterday? How soft her bossom felt on it.'_ A demon seemed to whisper in his ear. _'AHHHHHH! Come on! There's got to be something else to do! Weiss! Please finish showering!'_

Dante looked around and noticed his gear. He went to them and placed them in a neat pile. He then started cleaning his black blade, Notus. Once finished, he reached for Euros. His white blade. _'White'_ he thought before his mind reminded him of a bent over Weiss. He dropped Euros right there on his bed and didn't even bother cleaning it.

Dante heard the water stop running and he moved to the window and looked out to see the view. The sight offered to him was a courtyard with plenty of green foliage. _'Yep. Don't think of_ that _color. Just green, green, girls taking a jog- wait what?'_ he then looked down to see a few faunus girls jogging. Their breathing rapid, sweat glistening off their body, a bunny tail contrasted to her bloomers.

Dante twitched and decided to look up to the sky. _'Ah! Beautiful azure sky! You'll never betray me right?'_ A cloud then passed by in the shape of a heart. Or in Dante's mind, the cleft and shape of Weiss bending down and her lovely white legs that needed no stockings to highlight her legs.

The bathroom door swung open. _'Heaven has opened! Non nobis Domine!'_ Dante turned around to look at both his salvation and damnation. There stood Weiss in her uniform. The black coat hugging her figure. The red skirt enhancing her legs. And her light blue eyes that also stared back at him. _'Just like the sky.'_ Dante thought.

"Well good morning milady!" Dante's mouth said. Evidently, a small part of him hadn't gone out the window just yet. "You sure took your time in the shower." _'It felt like an eternity!'_

"Fu- Ha... Hahahahaha!" She started laughing. _'It sounds like heaven opening up.'_ Dante thought as more and more of his will left for vacation. "What is up with your hair!? Hahaha!"

"That bad huh?" He asked, touching his hair. He didn't realize how much of a mess he made when he ruffled it.

"Yes, it's that bad, haha. Good morning to you too Dante." Weiss said.

'Oum _, woman. It is a VERY good morning._ ' He thought then noticed she was looking at his belongings. "I woke up when your alarm went off. You took 30 minutes in the shower, so I had time to clean up." Dante said aloud. _'Still feel like it was an eternity!'_

Weiss nodded, and Dante moved to go to the bathroom. Then he realized he was still quite erect. Thinking quickly, he placed his clothes on top of his member, leaned forward, and floated to bathroom as Weiss stepped away to let him enter.

As door clicked shut, he let out a sigh. _'She didn't notice, she didn't notice.'_ He affirmed to himself. He took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. It was still warm and he took in a large breath. _'Weiss_ _scent... wait- Noooooooo!'_

And his suffering continued through the morning.

* * *

 **Note:**

 **Corrida -** Literally just bull fighting

* * *

 **A/N:**

Sorry it took a while. What, like 3 weeks? In return, this is 10k chapter when my usual is 5. No harm done right? Also, there... might have been 1 week from that when I was lollygagging in Tyranny. It was just mad fun being a loyal vassal to the Overlord and not giving a fuck about everyone else's opinion because **LOYALTY**.

If you've noticed, the classes are quite expanded from canon, that's because we'll be seeing those classes discussed quite a lot. Especially Dustology. It will play a very big part in the story.

Anyway, I had problems with Weiss and Axel's 'childhood'. Weiss because there really wasn't much to build on, while Axel's was the opposite. There is simply too much that went on in order for them to completely OP. However, I didn't want the scene to dally on it as that isn't what the chapter is about. So I shortened it quite a lot. I also didn't want to give a half hearted flash back, and it simply wasn't time for a full on flash back either.

After an intermission, we're going back to the past. We're finally going to look at Cinder's childhood and we get to see Artem Solis in the spotlight at last!

Lastly, I just started a Dragon's Dogma and Zero no Tsukaima crossover and it's sadly getting popular even though it's 1 chapter with 2k words with lots of errors. Apparently, no one has posted a Fic yet with Louise summoning a dragon.

Why sadly? Cuz this is still my main fic even if so few people like it! xD

See you guys soon!


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